


New Beginning

by NerdWhoSaysNi



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Adventure, Assemble - Freeform, Avengers - Freeform, Comics, Helicarrier, Kids, Marvel - Freeform, Marvel Cinematic Universe - Freeform, NYC, New York City, SHIELD, Stark Tower, mcu - Freeform, mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 08:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14973017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdWhoSaysNi/pseuds/NerdWhoSaysNi
Summary: The Avengers fought together as a powerful unit against any villain that passed Earth. Combined, they were unstoppable. They began to grow weary of being ordered to do SHIELD's will and answer at the beck and call of Director Fury. So the team split to go their separate ways, keeping in touch with each other, but passing entirely under SHIELD's radar. The Avengers have disappeared and they don't particularly wish to be found. It's time for a new generation to take charge. It's time for a new beginning.Nick Fury has hand picked an elite band of heroes to replace the original Avengers, but there's an overwhelming vote of doubt. This new team of heroes is young and inexperienced, yet SHIELD has granted Fury permission to test his team. But will Fury have the time? A threat is approaching, and SHIELD doesn't know if the new generation of Avengers will be able to handle it.Author's Note: This short story was written just after the first Avengers movie's release in a collaborative notebook and later edited and moved to Wattpad. All the credit to my friends who passed fanfic in class instead of notes.





	1. Starting with a Bang

Sean's Point of View: I yawned and set down the soldering gun to check my work. Pushing back my protective metal mask, I ran a finger over the cooled seam and nearly leapt out of my skin when a buzzer went off. I slid the mask off and fixed my sweat-dampened hair by running a hand through it.

The buzzer went off again, and I snatched my phone off the worktable to dash up the stairs. The elevator was broken -again- so I came out of the stairwell and onto the A-5 level where my mom stood at a smartscreen with a headset on. She was telling the man on the other end that he couldn't do something or other, and the guy was furious. Mom had it handled though and was telling him off big time, so I sat back to watch the show. The guy couldn't get a whole sentence in, and I always enjoyed this sort of thing.

"Sir, do you know what it takes to get a shipment like that?" she said.

"Well-" he tried to get in before Mom cut him off.

"I didn't think so."

"But-"

"So if you-"

"Ma'am-"

"Do not interrupt me."

"I-"

"I don't care if the world is ending tomorrow. You have to go at least two weeks before you can get your shipment."

"We need-"

"I already told you. We've put in an order for the supplies, but it won't be in until next week. Just call back then and we can negotiate for the inconvenience." Click. And that's how you do business.

She set down the headset before spotting me by the door and calling me over. "Sean," she said, walking over and perching on a footrest. I slumped onto the couch in front of her and lounged back. Making a face at my horrid mess of unkempt hair, she huffed and reached out a hand to flatten it.

I spazzed, ducking away and protesting, "Mom! I'm nineteen. You can stop doing that now."

She sat back and made a pouty face. "Sean, your father has a guest tonight, and I'd like it if you behaved for once. Shower, ironed clothes, combed hair, manners."

I stuck out my tongue in a sort of disgusted way. "Ah, c'mon. Can't I just stay in my room and keep out of the way?"

"No," she answered firmly. "The guest would like to meet you."

"Who would want to meet me?" I wondered aloud.

"SHIELD agent Maria Hill. She's a friend and was sent by Fury." Despair. I knew I'd lost the second she mentioned SHIELD.

"How long until she gets here?" I moaned. She turned to check the clock and jumped off the footrest.

"About forty-five minutes. Go shower and change."

I stood reluctantly and took the stairs three at a time to my room. The hot water felt good as I washed off the sweat, metal filings, and rust from my project. Loud music blared out of the speakers set into the walls of the bathroom as I finished, shaved, and dried off. Quickly towel drying my hair, I yawned and saw clothes set out. I'd been hoping to get away with a t-shirt and jeans, but Mom had other ideas. Crisp dark jeans, dark brown belt and shoes, and crimson button down dress shirt. "Ah, Mom..." I grumbled, getting dressed. When I'd finished, it felt stuffy and false, so I undid the top button, untucked the shirttail, cuffed the sleeves to my elbows- and knew for certain it would annoy the living daylights out of her. I mussed my curly near-black hair and checked for the glow of the arc reactor in my chest. Still there; still glowing.

I'd been told the story a bunch of times. How I'd been born with only half my heart beating, how the repulsor was the only way. Every year I'd had at least one surgery- sometimes more- to adjust it until I'd stopped growing. Still, the idea of it all only sank in a year or so ago. I'd gone out to the movies with some friends and we were walking home when the repulsor malfunctioned and died right there on the sidewalk. I remembered waking up in the hospital but nothing in between except my parents were terrified. Now, I always made sure it was working properly.

Taking a breath, I headed down to dinner. Dad was leaning against the counter, whiskey glass in one hand, with Mom leaning against him and talking quietly. Both were dressed professionally- Mom in a cocktail dress, and Dad in a waistcoat and sports jacket. Why was this SHIELD lady so important?

They parted and Dad gave her a quick kiss before draining his glass as Mom came over. She began to fuss with my shirt and tried to neaten my hair, completely ignoring my complaints and attempts to escape.

"Pepper," Dad called to her, laughing a little. "Let the kid be. He looks fine." Mom shot Dad a look before walking back over to him. I followed at a distance and poured myself a drink. I took my Fresca to the couch and had just set the glass in the holder when a knock announced Agent Hill. Mom fast-walked to the door with Dad following at a leisurely pace behind her. I was introduced to Maria Hill, and dinner was served but nothing interesting really happened until Dad poured her a drink. She refused the champagne and instead brought a tablet computer out of her purse. Immediately, Dad began to say no, that he wasn't doing anything for Fury.

"It's not for you," she replied calmly. Mom reached for the tablet before Agent Hill said, "It's not for you either." Both my parents looked confused, and even I didn't fully understand what was going on until Maria passed me the tablet. I must have looked surprised but I accepted it anyway. "I need an answer by noon. I'll be back tomorrow. Thank you for the meal, Pepper." And with that, she left.

We sat stunned for a moment before I collapsed into an armchair. I hit the power button. As the screen was warming up, an image of the SHIELD logo appeared, but before I could read anything inside, it was snatched from my fingers. Mom headed toward the island, taking a sip from her drink and flipping through the file that had appeared. I popped up and followed her, wanting to know what was inside. She expertly kept it out of my reach, finished her drink, and passed the tablet to Dad. He refused to even look at it. When I made a move to take the tablet back, Mom slipped it easily just out of my reach.

"Go up to your room. We'll discuss it in the morning," she told me.

"What?"

"You heard what I said. Room. Now."

"But Mom! Hill said it was for me!" I countered.

"It is for you. She and Fury have spoken to us before about this."

"Then why can't I read it?"

"You'll know in the morning." Her voice rose slightly.

"Why not tell me now?"

"Because your father and I need to talk about it!"

"What's there to talk about?" Now we were shouting.

"We don't know if you're ready for this yet!"

"Ready for what?!" I shouted.

"To be the next Ironman!" This time Dad had answered. He'd been leaning on the counter with his eyes closed until that point, at which, he looked up. Everything was silent. Mom looked at her shoes. I stood uncomfortably for a second before muttering something about going to bed.

Turning quickly, I left the room and climbed the stairs to my room at the topmost floor of the tower. I walked across to my bed and sat on the edge, kicking off my shoes and unbuttoning the shirt. Me? The next Ironman? I thought. That's huge! No wonder they don't think I'm ready. I changed and crawled under the blankets, lying on my back to think.

The holographic numbers of my alarm clock read 11:15, but I wasn't tired. Not anymore at least. I puzzled through my issue until it hit me. What if I sneaked out? This was an awful idea but the thrill of being recruited by SHIELD was so exhilarating I wasn't about to waste it. I thought it over more as I lay there and made up my mind. If my parents said no, I'd be halfway to Fury before they realized I was gone. I planned it all out before turning on my side to sleep.

The gentle hum of a solar panel kicking in at dawn woke me up. Immediately, I pushed off the sheets and changed, throwing extra clothes in a small duffle and stowing it and some supplies- toothbrush, toothpaste, rainjacket, pliers, those sorts of things- under my bed. I then headed to A-5 level for breakfast.

On my way down, I checked the clock which read 5:50am, and listened to be sure no one else was awake. Therefore, I had a massive issue with the fact that not only were both my parents awake, but they were downstairs, dressed, and having their coffee. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw and tried to duck behind the wall before they noticed me. Too late.

I heard them stop whispering. Mom sighed, then: "Sean. We know you're there. You can come out." I bit down on my tongue in frustration before walking in and faking a yawn. "And why are you up so early?" Mom scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. "You usually don't get up 'til nine. What's going on?"

"Nah. I'm fine." Quickly, I racked my brain for a valid excuse. "Solar panel woke me up, and I couldn't fall asleep again so I just came down early."

I could tell Mom didn't believe me but she let it slide and instead said, "Your father and I have talked about Fury's offer, and we've reached a decision. We decided that-" she paused and I held my breath. "We've decided that you're still too young right now to be the next Ironman. We'll give it a year or so and see what happens. Then...maybe."

I pretended to go with it and just nodded, pouring myself some coffee. We finished breakfast in silence before I headed back to my room to finish packing. The homing bands to suit M18, necessities, a notebook and pen, a compact cube of the M18 suit Dad had let me mess with (and I'd 'forgotten' to tell him I'd gotten working again), my phone, earbuds, mini extendable smartscreen, wire cutters, and ten feet of rope- because when you don't have it, there's always a need.

I wrote a note and left it on my desk. Short and simple. I've thought about this all night and I'm ready. Dad's taught me everything. I'll be fine as long as I'm around Fury, and I promise to be careful and to come back the second I can. Love you both, Sean.

Stuffing my wallet in my pocket, I waited for noon to roll around and stashed my duffle by the exit Agent Hill would most likely take. When she arrived, she went straight to my parents like I thought she would. They told her no and debated the matter among themselves until Agent Hill gave in and left.

I jogged after her, grabbed my bag on the way, and stopped her at the door. She didn't look too surprised to see me. "My parents changed their minds. I can come," I told her.

She smiled and nodded once. "Come aboard then." We rode in a helicopter to the Helicarrier and touched down expertly. The Helicarrier was already sailing its way further into the Atlantic as Hill showed me my room and where to put my things. I dumped the duffle on my bed, far from the door, before she led me out to give a tour.

When we reached the wishbone joint to the docking port, I spotted a kid not much younger than me hanging upside down by his knees trapeze style from the metal railing. He was passing a length of metal wiring to the workers below but it was too short. With a complex twisting maneuver, he sat upright, hopped into a frog position balanced on the top rail, and dropped to the deck.

"Sick moves," I commented. The guy ran a hand through his mop of dirty blonde hair. "Sean Stark," I told him, offering my hand. "Tony Stark's son."

"Nice. Jeremy Barton. Pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself with a kooky grin and shook my hand before being called away by a worker. Without a spot of hesitation, he hopped to the top rail again, slid feet first between the top rail and the next rail down, and dropped ten feet to a metal ledge below.

"Now that kid's something else," I muttered to myself, but Hill must have heard because she remarked:

"JJ? Yeah, he is. His father is Barney Barton."

"The criminal?" I raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. "JJ's uncle is the original Hawkeye, and he shows exceptional skill in all the areas his uncle did."

"But where'd he learn to do- ya know- all that?"

Hill laughed. "He was trained by Jacques Duquesne."

"The circus dude?" I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Hill smirked and answered, "The very one."

"That explains a lot," I said.

She nodded. "More than you know." She led me to a mid-level glass-paneled lab room. "Any work we need from you, or you want to do on your own, can be done here, and SHIELD will supply any resources you need for projects we give you. All the equipment we thought you'd need is here as well." I ran my fingers over a monitor and electronic keypad as she spoke.

Agent Hill was saying something about the Tesseract and harnessing energy when a pager strapped to her belt went off. She checked the pager and rushed out of the lab. Naturally, I followed. Hill met Fury at the wishbone docking port where a Quinjet was hovering above the dock, ready to land. Hill and Fury were shouting above the noise of the rotors.

"Is this August and Carter, or Vanek?" Hill asked.

"This should be Vanek and Rhodes. August hasn't communicated the positive yet. Apparently, he's giving her a pretty rough time," Fury answered.

"Did Rhodes...give her trouble? Or was he alright?"

Fury paused before replying, "We won't know until we ask, now will we?"

"I thought she took the 3-way with her?"

Fury chuckled. "And you actually thought she'd use it?"

Hill shrugged like 'good point' as both turned to watch the plane dock and shut down. The noise stopped, and we watched the ramp lower mechanically. A teenaged girl strutted down the ramp with confidence. From the docking port below, she spotted Fury, pulled something from her pocket, and hurled it up to the platform. Fury caught it in one hand and opened his fist to reveal a smashed 3-way radio receptor.

The girl pivoted to face the jet and gestured to someone inside. Timidly, but curiously, a guy my age walked off the ramp to stand on the deck. The girl had already climbed the stairs and was standing next to Fury...but staring at me with unnerving hazel eyes.

"Can I help you?" I asked her. She turned away and didn't reply. "Yeah, great talking to you, Angel," I quipped before immediately regretting it. She slapped me upside the back of the head harder than I thought possible for a girl her size.

The guy from earlier had now joined us on the overlooking deck.

Hill led him away to get settled I assumed, and Fury turned to the girl. "Natalia, did he...come smoothly?"

"Yeah."

"No issue at all?"

"Nope."

He held up the smashed 3-way with a questioning look.

Natalia smirked. "We hitched a motorbike but had a little incident with some angry Canadians." Fury shook his head before another plane began to dock. He paged Hill, but she didn't reply. Off this plane came another girl and yet another guy my age.

"Who put together this party?" I mumbled.

I headed back to my room to unpack before taking my gadgets to the lab. The guy from the first plane was sitting at a laptop plugged into a headset. The girl- Natalia- was leaning on the wall with her arms crossed, staring at the floor, but the second I walked in, she began to study me again.

I pretended to ignore her and set up a station for the M18 and my own portable piece of Jarvis. I sat in the swivel chair and worked for a few minutes while her eyes burned into me. I swung around to grab a homing band when I caught her still watching. I smirked and tossed her a wink, "Like what you see, Angel?"

I turned around a split second before a lightweight wrench connected with the back of my head. I snapped around. "What the-"

I broke off when she gave me that sort of self-satisfied smirk I hated on people. Standing, I narrowed my eyes; her expression was daring me to fight back. I opened my mouth to challenge her with a surprisingly witty remark that I was glad to have thought of on the spot. "My dad always taught me that violence was inappropriate for the eyes of ladies, but seeing as how you don't quite qualify as one-"

BANG-CRASH!

"Crap!" I heard the other guy mutter. He'd dropped an empty glass beaker and it had shattered on the tile flooring.

"Smooth going, Rhodes," I teased.

He nodded and half smiled. "Why thank you, Stark."

"That's who you are!" Natalia blurted.

I blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah?"

She rolled her eyes and walked out. Turning to Erik, I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder at Natalia and bent to help clean up the mess of glass shards. "What bit her?"

He chuckled. "Fury. She wanted to get Carter but lost out to Fury's niece. Talia was pretty put-off."

I rubbed my palms together. "Catfight?"

He laughed again but shook his head. "Naw. Fury wouldn't allow it. Besides, I'd have my money on Talia. She's downright tough. And been with SHIELD longer than I ever thought possible. Has more training, resources, tricks, down-dirty sneaky tricks."

I nodded. "And how old is she?"

"Ehhh...I'm not sure. Seventeen maybe? Hard to say."

"What about the others?"

"I don't know about anyone else but I'm nineteen." He dumped the last of the glass in a waste bin and sat in his chair. "Erik Rhodes, the uh...science expert," he introduced.

"Sean Stark, but somehow you already knew that."

"You knew my name," he returned.

"Touché."

"You just look like your dad is all."

I'd never thought about that. Did I really? Then again, the glowing chest piece was a dead give-away. "I heard Hill mention your name before and the girl doesn't exactly look like a Rhodes."

Erik smiled, "That's Natalia Vanek. High-strung secret agent and master assassin. Don't cross her."

"Ha, yeah, too late." 

He shook his head with a smile and we both turned back to our work.

Later that night, Hill came to tell us that it was past midnight and as protocol, we had to be in the bunk wing whether we slept or not. Erik and I packed our work away and left the lab together. Hill led us to the bunk wing and- surprise, surprise, surprise- we were all bunking in the wing. In one room. All the guys. Together. In one room. Someone shoot me now. The girls would be together in the adjacent room.

I had claimed my bunk earlier that day so didn't have to worry about that. Each of the beds was a bunk bed with the top for sleeping and the bottom removed and replaced with desks, worktables, storage, or the like. I changed quickly, exhausted from not having slept much last night, and crashed on my bunk. The other three crashed as well and soon, I could hear Barton snoring away. I was going to go insane. At least the beds were far apart.

I watched my alarm clock tick into early morning but still couldn't sleep. 3:30 rolled around and I was wide awake. Dad was going to kill me. If I ever got the chance to go home, I was so dead.

I must have drifted off eventually because I woke up, tangled in my sheets, shirt clinging to my skin with a cold sweat. I rolled onto my back but couldn't fall asleep. Not real sleep anyway. I dangled in the limbo between wakefulness and coma.

Dawn came and I reluctantly sat up. I could hear JJ in the shower humming that stupid "Afro Circus" song as I dropped from my bunk to shower and change in the other bathroom. Yawning, I left the bunk wing and headed to the lab. Soon, Erik joined me, and we worked in silence.


	2. Angels with Sass

Natalia's Point of View: The SHIELD base was more crowded than normal today; the facility was finally finished after months of construction. It was pretty much the same as the old one, which made it a ton easier to get around.

I was about to go get lunch when Fury's voice came over my walkie-talkie. "Talia, we need you in the observation room."

So much for lunch. The observation room was on the entire other side of the compound.

I jogged over and almost ran into Agent Hill as she was leaving the room. I walked in and found Fury there, along with his niece, August. "Recruitment mission," he said.

Blah. Those were BORING. "Look it over and be ready to go tomorrow," he said and slid a tablet across the table before leaving the room.

I turned it on and opened the file. It was a teenaged boy named Erik Rhodes...the name seemed sort of familiar. It wasn't until I reached the part about his...accident... that I remembered. It was on a list in a file I had "accidentally" seen about a new Avengers team Fury was putting together. Rhodes had been put in there as a potential candidate. Was Fury needing the new Avengers team? What happened to the old one? A million questions were running through my mind.

"Only one way to find out," I muttered to myself. I grabbed the tablet and left the room, heading to the archives. I stopped by Hill's room to grab her extra ID card on my way. I still don't know why she leaves that second one in the top drawer of her desk. Just because the door is locked doesn't mean no one can get in.

I jogged over to the archive room, made sure no one was around, swiped the ID card, and slid inside. I went to where I had seen the file before and opened it, looking around. Nothing new. They must have started another file. I kept looking. And looking. There was nothing! Just nothing. That either meant it was nothing after all, or that it was so important Fury had come and deleted it himself.

I walked out, disappointed that I hadn't found any new information. I then returned Hill's ID card after debating if I should keep it or not. She does have two...

When I was done, I registered to get a Quinjet for tomorrow before I realized I hadn't finished reading the file. It's a good thing I did because if I hadn't, I would've come right back here and found everyone to have gone to the Helicarrier.

I quickly packed, making sure I had my pistols. I looked at the time and decided to skip the dedication ceremony thing and try to see if I could duplicate Hill's card so I wouldn't have to keep snitching it. After two and a half hours of work, I had a card that could get me pretty much anywhere, but looked like my old one so it wouldn't be suspicious. After I was done, they were having a big thing where you wander around and eat and talk, so I snatched some food and headed off to the exercise room. After a little while, Fury called me to his office. This was not the best news; Fury handled serious matters in his office. I hurried over and pressed the buzzer on the door.

I walked in and saw Fury sitting behind his desk. "Natalia." Full name= not good. "Sit down."

"I'm fine," I said, standing in front of the desk.

"According to our records, Agent Hill visited the archives today. However, she assures me she did not. Since I know she has two ID cards, one of which she keeps in her room and I know you're a skilled lockpick..." He turned around and looked at me. "Natalia, which file were you looking at?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

I waited a little, debating what to say.

"Natalia."

"The Avengers files," I sighed.

"Old or new?"

"New." Man, I was gonna be in so much trouble.

"Thank you, that's all." He turned back around, looking for something on the bookshelf behind him.

That's all? That made me more nervous than the idea of getting in trouble...What was going on with this new Avenger group?

I headed back to the dorm wing, took a fast shower, and quickly fell asleep. The next day, I was up at 4am. I took a quick shower and changed into black jeans, black combat boots, and a gray tank top with a black SHIELD jacket. I made some modifications to my ID card that would allow me to go anywhere, but the path I'd taken to be untraceable. Now I had complete freedom!

After a quick breakfast, I headed down to the hangar to get my plane. JJ was there working on something underneath it. "Hi," he said, voice muffled.

"Hey," I returned. "You coming to the Helicarrier this afternoon?"

"Yup. You?"

I smiled and answered, "Yeah." I started to fill out the preflight check. I then punched in the coordinates, threw my stuff in the back, and hopped into the pilot's seat. Just as I was about to start take off, Hill ran up with something- a three way radio. "Don't need it," I told her.

"Yes, you do. It's required," she answered. Grudgingly, I grabbed the radio and chucked it into the back. Crunch. I smirked and took off, finding myself in northern New York state in only an hour.


	3. Pixie Sticks and Police Batons

August's Point of View: The morning after being given my mission from Uncle Nick, I woke up early. Earlier than Natalia for once. Her room was next door, and I paused a moment to listen. Heavy breathing. Good. I showered and changed into regular clothes before using gel to spike my hair into a pointy mess. A loud rumble broke into my hazy thoughts. Breakfast; I needed breakfast. And soon.

When I reached the mess hall, I grabbed a handful of pixie sticks and a bag of poptarts, ripping open the package and taking a chomp before jogging to the hangar. I hopped into the pilot's seat of a Quinjet and began a preflight check. The poptarts were finished before the check, so I ripped open a pixie stick and dumped it down my throat. A three-way radio sat on the copilot's seat for when I needed it, but hopefully I wouldn't. He couldn't give me that much trouble, could he? Well, maybe. I took off and headed west before pausing a second to punch in the coordinates for Napa Valley, California.

After four hours of nonstop flight and twenty pixie sticks later, I glanced over my GPS for an empty field to land in. When I found a field that was relatively far from densely populated areas and completely empty, I brought the Quinjet in to land. It wasn't quite as smooth a landing as I had hoped it would be, but it would have to do. I climbed out of the jet, cramming the last pixie stick into my pocket. Hand held GPS, three-way radio, weapons, lunch- everything went into my backpack, and I began walking toward my destination.

On the way down a main road, I gathered some strange looks from people, but probably not without reason. I mean, it's not every day a girl with spiky hair dressed all in grey walks by swinging a police baton. I probably looked absurd. But who cares? Not me!

I turned onto a dirt road that wound its way between orchards laden with juicy black grapes. The air was thick with the aroma of sunshine and warm earth. I pulled out my last pixie stick and emptied it into my mouth before tossing the wrapper into my backpack.

Eventually, I reached my destination. A large, yellow house sat on a hill overlooking the orchards in the back and front. The sun was rising higher, and I needed to be at the Helicarrier before they got too far into the Atlantic, so this had to be quick. Hiking my backpack higher onto my shoulders, I marched up to the front door and knocked. No answer. I knocked again, this time a little louder. Still no answer. I gave up at the door and poked my nose around the corner and scanned the wrap around porch for signs of life. This was the right place so why wasn't- AHA!

I walked quietly toward an elderly woman sitting in a rocking chair, covered with a light blanket and chin drooping onto her chest. "Excuse me? Ma'am? I'm with SHIELD. Is-"

She lifted her eyes to face me, and I knew the answer to my question. "SHIELD? Well, I haven't heard that name in years! What's your business here, disturbing my nap?" she asked, eyes twinkling kindly.

"Ma'am, I didn't mean to disturb you. I just need to speak to Evan Carter, your grandson, I believe."

"Evan? Yes, he's just on his way back. Went out early to check the chickens and horses, you see. What'd you say your name was?"

"I didn't. It's August," I replied.

This time her kind eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's your last name?"

"Fury," I answered.

"Fury? As in Nick Fury? I didn't know he was the type to have kids!"

I almost couldn't hold back my guffaw of laughter. "No, Ma'am. I'm his niece."

This was taking too long. I needed to start back soon or the Helicarrier would be too far for the amount of fuel left in the jet. "So do you know how long until I can speak with Evan?"

"He'll be back soon. Would you like something to eat? Anything to drink?"

"No, thank you," I replied, rapping my fingers nervously on my leg.

"Well, have a seat while you wait. Why are you here?" she asked me. I explained the whole deal. The new avengers team; the recruitment; Evan's part in it all. At the mention of the Avengers, her eyes lit up.

"Have you heard the stories of Captain America? He was part of the Avengers team that fought awhile ago in New York. Have you met him? Oh, he's the sweetest! I used to know him before he was Captain America, you know? When he was still the skinny little boy from Brooklyn." She paused and shook her head with a sad smile. "I was so glad when they told me he was alive. I'd thought that crash in '43 had killed him. We all thought that. He's never come to visit me though. It's so unlike Steve, but I guess he's just nervous."

I sat uncomfortably for awhile until a boy that matched the description of Evan Carter came onto the porch. Horse hair clung to his jeans and his golden blonde hair stuck in all directions from the hat he'd just taken off. As he got nearer, I realized his eyes were the same shade of dark blue as the Superman shirt he wore. Wow.

And this kid was supposed to be the next- no way. Uncle Nick couldn't. He wouldn't. This guy could never be the next Captain. Never. I smirked when I noticed a chicken feather stuck to his ear.

"Evan, say hello. This is....what did you say your name was again?" she asked me.

"August," I answered. "I'm here from SHIELD."

Evan nodded once, looking as if saying hi to a total stranger on his grandmother's porch was the last thing he wanted to do. I reached into my backpack and passed him a folder with the recruitment papers. He flipped through them and skimmed over the package before saying, "No way."

"Sorry, but I can't accept that answer," I told him.

"Then tell Fury he can-"

"Evan." His grandmother's tone clearly said that he was going to be severely punished if he finished that sentence. He scowled at the wooden floor.

"Mrs. Carter, may I ask you something?" I said, wondering if she'd be okay with it. If she was, she would officially be the coolest grandmother ever. I whispered my question in her ear, and she smiled at me when I'd finished.

"Of course, hun," she answered, sweetly.

"Ha! Yes!" I reached around to my backpack again as Evan crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. With one quick, easy swing, I brought my police baton down over Evan's head with a pleasant 'smack'. He crumpled to the floor.

Grandma Carter helped me drag Evan inside and pack a duffel with some clothes and things he would need.

An hour later, Evan woke up strapped firmly into the copilot's seat in the Quinjet. His hands were tied and his feet were bound together simply for the pleasure of it. "Wha? What's going on? Where am I? How did? Oh, not you!" he rambled.

"Hey, you could at least be polite about it!" I snapped. "I didn't have to pack a bag for you. I didn't have to bring your stuff along. I didn't have to let your grandmother pack your teddy bear."

"She what?!" His face reddened and he stared out the front to the open sky and clouds below us.

I smiled, knowing I now had something for the blackmail box. And it was true. His grandmother had stuffed an old, beaten up teddy bear into his duffel before I'd zipped it shut. She'd said he loved the thing, but from the cobwebs layering its ears, I'd say it hadn't been touched in ten years.

Once I had the coordinates locked in and the Quinjet was heading for the Helicarrier, I got up and pulled out lunch.

"Here." I tossed him a sandwich and bag of chips before digging out my own lunch and taking a giant bite. I couldn't hear him moving so I asked, "Not hungry? You really should eat. It's not poisoned, I promise."

"Oh no, see I honestly am starving, but seeing how I'm tied up head to foot-"

"Oh yeah!" I hopped up again and began to untie him.

"How old are you?" he asked, staring down at me as I untied his feet.

"Seventeen and a half. Why?" I replied, moving on to his knees.

"You're only seventeen and you're a SHIELD agent?"

"No, I'm seventeen and a half. The half is important. How old are you?" I countered.

"Almost nineteen," he answered.

"And you're the next Captain America?" I mocked the same tone he'd used on me.

"Shut up!" he growled. He kicked his legs free with a little more force than was really necessary before letting me go at his wrists.

"Looks like the pretty-boy doesn't like being teased." I pulled my knife through the last strand holding his wrist with a little more umph than I'd meant to, and it left a nick in his hand that began to bead scarlet. He held the cut to his jeans before fighting the knot that held his other hand. I collapsed back into my swivel chair and finished lunch, staring out ahead at the sky.

With only ten minutes before we would land, I was relieved to see that we still had enough fuel to get us there and a little bit extra just in case. Evan and I had ridden in silence, him scowling at the floor and myself glaring at the sky. Why was Uncle Nick bringing this guy in? Surely there were better matches for a Captain? Weren't there?

Either way, we landed in the wishbone docking port on the Helicarrier and I shut the jet down. Agent Hill met me there and informed me that Talia had landed with Rhodes just a little while ago. I was supposed to give Evan a tour of the Helicarrier and a run down on the rules, but neither of us would enjoy that too much so I showed him his room and ditched him to go play video games.


	4. The Other Guy...Plays Chess

Natalia's Point of View: After landing the Quinjet, I walked down a dusty, crushed pebble road overshadowed by trees. It wound its way further into shadow and had no visible end. This was getting me nowhere anytime soon, and I was supposed to collect him quickly. Pausing, I looked around for a faster way of transportation.

Surprise! A dirt bike sat outside an old wooden fence. The owner wouldn't miss it if I was fast enough, so I hotwired it to start and rode to where Fury's file said I would find him. I parked out front and let down the kickstand. I slipped a knife into my sleeve, just in case I needed it, and headed up the driveway. No garage and no cars in the drive meant there was a chance he wasn't even home but I'd check anyway.

I knocked twice and listened for signs of movement. Almost immediately, the door opened and I was facing the guy I knew would be him. "Erik Rhodes?" I asked.

He scanned me up and down suspiciously before nodding, "Yeah?"

"Agent Vanek. I need to speak to you," I told him.

"Agent? What's this about?" he questioned, obviously confused.

I sighed and inwardly rolled my eyes. "Agent Natalia Vanek. I'm with SHIELD. It'd be easier for me to explain this without a door in the way."

He seemed to have forgotten the door. "Oh. Um, yeah. Sorry 'bout that." He opened the door to let me in and closed it again once I was out of the way. I faced the living room to survey the space in case anything... messy... occurred.

An unfinished game of chess sat on a coffee table between two sofas, all the curtains were opened in back to reveal neatly trimmed hedges and a freshly mowed yard; a brown tabby cat slipped through a door I expected led to the cellar, and the smell of recently baked bread wafted from the kitchen.

I turned to face Erik, studying him as well. He didn't look dangerous. Confused, timid, maybe- dare I say it- shy. But definitely not dangerous. Either way, I wasn't going to test him.

He was about an inch shorter than me, stockily built. Not much of a challenge if it came to a fistfight, but if we were fighting, I had a feeling it would be a lot more complicated than fists. As he sat on one of the sofas, I noticed how much he resembled his uncle- short brown hair, thoughtful expression, cogwork of the brain constantly moving. The only major difference I noticed right away was that Erik's eyes were startlingly green. 'Must have been a side effect,' I thought to myself.

I sat on the sofa across from him and dug around in my backpack for the file. When I'd found it, I held it out for him. Hesitantly, he accepted the file and began to flip through it. I gave him a minute before starting to explain.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Espionage, and Logistics Division, otherwise known as SHIELD. Director Fury is assembling an elite team and would like you to join. We've heard of your talents and would like to put them to some use for us."

"So this isn't about my uncle?" His tone was calm but hid his suspicion.

I shook my head. "Nope. Just you."

"And it's not about...you know...my um..." he trailed off but I knew what he meant.

This time I hesitated before shaking my head. What if that was the reason Fury wanted him? To keep him away from civilization? So there wouldn't be an accident? But the kid was also brilliant; that much was obvious. The chessboard in front of me showed that. The pieces were arranged in just such a way that whoever's turn it was next would be the winner. What if Fury only wanted him to help out on the tech and science end of the project? Time would tell but for now, I had a job to do.

"I need an answer," I told him.

He stared at the chessboard for a second before making the final move, taking the king, and nodding. "I'll go."

"Good." We stood and I waited while he left to pack.

After an hour of chatting pleasantly back and forth, we arrived at the Helicarrier, and I shut down the jet. Erik had ridden with me in the copilot's seat but now had gone into the back to grab his duffel.

I lowered the ramp and took two steps before darting back to grab the remains of the three-way. I walked down the ramp and spotted Fury and Hill standing on the overlook right where I knew they would be. Winding my arm back, I chucked the three-way up to them and watched it sail into Fury's open fist.

I realized Erik hadn't followed me down and turned to see where he'd gotten to. Poor guy stood at the mouth of the ramp with nervousness written in every inch of his posture. I gestured with a jerk of my head for him to come before climbing the stairs to join Fury and Hill.

Simultaneously, I was aware of Erik's footsteps behind me as well as a third person on the overlook. He was maybe my age. Probably older. Kind of hard to tell. When I stepped onto the flat portion of the overlook, he turned to face me, and I knew I'd seen him before. But where? When? Grr, now this was going to bother me! How did I know him?

He didn't seem to know me at all. But everything about him was familiar. From his dark brown eyes and mussed near black hair, to just the way he leaned so casually on the railing. Why couldn't I remember how I knew him!? The only thing that seemed unfamiliar was his freckles; they just seemed so out of place. He cocked an eyebrow, and I realized I'd been staring openly at him.

"Can I help you?" he asked. Even his voice sounded familiar. I rolled my eyes and leaned on the railing on the other side of Fury. "Wow. Great chat, Angel," he shot at me, dripping with sarcasm.

Uh, excuse me? No one calls me Angel. Without thinking, I reached around Fury and slapped the guy in the back of the head. Hill led Erik away to get settled.

Fury held up the smashed three-way radio and interrogated me briefly before nodding for me to leave. So I headed to the lab to maybe talk with Erik some more. He really was pleasant company, but I didn't have too many options. I could go back to chill in my room but I didn't want to run into August. I could always go down to the hangar and help JJ with whatever he was doing, but the other workers didn't like having me around.

When I reached the lab, Erik was sitting at a desk with a headset on, reading a code on a holographic screen. I didn't want to get in the way, so I leaned on the wall beside the doorway and crossed my arms. Soon, the guy from earlier entered the lab and ignored me, going to sit in a swivel chair by a worktable. I still felt like I knew him but couldn't place it.

He must have known I was staring because he swiveled around and winked before saying, "Like what you see, Angel?"

Even that felt familiar and it annoyed me so badly that I didn't know why. So I threw a wrench at his head. He shot to his feet and started what he thought was a clever little quip, but just then Erik dropped something, and it shattered on the tile. They quickly exchanged a few teasing sentences before Erik mentioned something about Stark.

Then it all clicked.

He obviously wasn't Tony Stark so this must have been his son. That's why he looked so familiar! 

"That's who you are!" I blurted before I caught myself.

"Uh. Yeah. Got a problem with that?" He stared at me as if I was going insane. Shaking my head in annoyance, I turned heel and stalked out of the room.


	5. Sinister Plotting

Sean's PoV: I yawned and banged my head on the table in front of me. Erik had left to use the bathroom so I was alone in the lab, working on the M18. I stopped banging my head since I already had a killer headache.

"Yo, Wrench." Natalia's voice at the doorway caused me to swivel around and face her. "Yeah. You. Meeting in the observation room." With that she turned and left before I could even answer.

Looks like I had no choice so I got to my feet, found some ibuprofen, and walked out in the direction of the observation room. When I came across a water fountain, I downed the ibuprofen and continued on my way.

At the observation room, Rhodes, JJ, Natalia, August, and Fury were already there. I claimed a seat and set my forehead in my hand with an elbow propped on the table. Natalia glared at me before taking a seat two empty chairs over from where I was. What was her issue? I hadn't thrown a wrench at the back of her head!

Fury stood by the floor to ceiling glass panels looking out on the command center with his back to us. He turned, brow furrowed, to face us before spotting a guy I hadn't seen before sitting near Rhodes.

He looked like one of those surfers out of the movie "Point Break". Shaggy blonde hair, tanned, stoic. He watched Fury, aware of everyone else in the room but choosing to ignore us.

"So even Thor has sent a participant," Fury chuckled.

The guy didn't look pleased. When he spoke, his bass voice sounded derisive, "I am no replacement nor participant. Odin Allfather sends me as an ambassador for Thor. He sends me with a message. Because of the Asgardian treaty with Midgard, I am commanded only to watch the proceedings- nothing more."

"So you've come to spy on us for Thor?" Fury accused.

"Spectate would be a more precise term," the Asgardian answered sternly. "Sif has told me to train with you and help where I'm needed; but the battles are to be left to the mortals. These are my orders and these only will I follow."

Fury propped himself on the table, leaning on his spread hands and staring us down with his one good eye. "Whatever Oberon decides is up to Odin and Thor but the rest of you are on strict training now. No soda, no seltzer, nothing carbonated, nothing alcoholic, no sugars, junk, or candy. Strictly reinforced curfew from here out- 11:00pm you must be in the bunk room whether you're asleep or not. No partying. No playfulness, no flirting, no courting, dating, or anything like that. Am I clear?" Fury shot a pointed look at myself and Natalia, and I swallowed.

'What on earth?' I thought. 'Like we would ever!' Her face went red and she glared at me as if Fury's remark was solely my fault. JJ, seated directly to the right of Natalia, was smirking, and I knew I'd never hear the end of it.

Fury continued: "Every morning, all of you will wake up before 6:30am and spend at least three total hours in the training room at any time during the day."

Natalia and the blonde guy from the Quinjet yesterday didn't seem at all fazed by this but Rhodes objected. "Whoa. Hold up. Physical conditioning isn't going to matter one iota for me."

"Stinks to be you then, doesn't it?" Fury retorted. "You're a team now. You train as a team; you win as a team; you lose as a team; you succeed or die trying as a team."

We nodded collectively and muttered forms of 'yes' or 'yessir'.

"New schedule starts tonight. Dismissed." He turned back to watch the command center below and we got up to leave.

When Jeremy and August passed me, I overheard Jeremy asking, "Then what does he expect a group of teenagers to eat and drink?"

"He never said anything about coffee," August pointed out.

Barton looked terrified. "No. Oh no. Nonono. If they're giving you coffee, I am getting off this ship." She laughed maniacally in response. "What did Fury do?" he moaned.

"Uncle Nick conveniently left the world's greatest loophole in his little speech."

Jeremy shook his head before ducking into the boys' dorm room. August giggled insanely before heading to the recreation room to play more video games. Eagerly, I returned to the lab to continue work on the M18 and tweak JARVIS a little.

Lunch came and went and I made a beeline for the lab once again. With SHIELD's tools at my disposal, there were countless options of how I could rework the homing bands to the suit. Honestly, Dad's way was brilliant but he could only do so much. I could make these even better, more efficient, voice recognizable, and maybe even comfortable.

To keep my mind on high gear, I blasted some rock music from a set of speakers I'd rummaged from a spare parts bin. Dinner time came and I set down the bands to go eat.

I got my food and chose a seat, feeling slight tremors as the Helicarrier hit the water. JJ slid into the seat across from me and soon Erik and the blonde guy from the Quinjet yesterday joined us as well. He introduced himself as Evan Carter, the grandson to Agent Peggy Carter.

I was halfway through eating when Natalia and August made their way to the table, but no sign of Oberon.

"Where's the demigod?" I asked JJ.

He rolled his eyes. "Apparently too superior for us," he answered.

"Ha! The mythological king of the fairies is too superior for us?"

He shrugged and kept eating. When I finished, I left to return to the lab. Erik joined me and we discussed a form of repulsor that could be compacted to fit in the M18 suit I'd been working on. We backed off the project after scrawling notes and a partial blueprint at 10:30pm. Still doing calculations verbally back and forth, we walked to the bunk wing and were surprised to find Natalia in our room.

"Stark! Perfect! C'mon. Get over here. We need your help," she told me. She was flat on her back under a bunk with JJ beside her, handing her a wrench.

"What on earth are you doing in our room?!" I blurted.

"Shut up and get over here. Quick!" she answered, ignoring my confused look. "We're pranking Obiwan. Now come help before he gets in here."

"Obiwan?"

"Oberon? Obiwan? Stark, you're pretty dull if it didn't at least pass your mind once or twice."

I smirked. "I might've thought of it a couple times," I answered as I crossed the room. She slid easily out from beneath Oberon's bunk and motioned for me to take her place.

I sat on the worktable underneath the bed and laid back. I unscrewed the bottom layer of the bunk, balancing it carefully with my toes and hands so it wouldn't land on my face and crush me. "Here. Take it," I grunted under the weight. "Take it! Hurry!"

Erik and Jeremy took the metal sheet and set it on the bed above, breathing heavily from the effort. "Talia, hand me the wrench," I said.

"Here." I felt the cool metal in my palm and began to go at the framework.

"So what are you looking to do here?" I asked her, loosening bolts and screws by instinct.

"We wanted it to shake whenever he puts his full weight on it. The uncontrollable shaking will prevent him from sleeping; then allowing us the ability to show him up and have Fury send him back to Asgard. Where he belongs," she answered coldly.

I smiled. "Oohh...sinister. I like it."

Talia smirked and passed me a ratchet on command. Soon, with plenty of dust and sweat, I'd loosened the supports to the underside of Obiwan's bunk and told JJ and Erik to pass me down the metal sheet again. I first bolted in the sides as loosely as possible, then the top and bottom so tightly I almost stripped half of them. This would make the issue look like his own weight had loosened the supports instead of mechanical tampering.

JJ rushed back into the room from a quick look-out check. "He's coming! Hurry and finish," he hissed.

Through a mouthful of screws, I tried to mumble, "It's coming, it's coming. Just. Wait."

Talia cast an anxious look at the door as footsteps in the hallway drew closer. "Get out of the way! I can do it faster!"

I didn't argue; just nodded once and slid out the head as she slid in the side.

"Hand me the wrench," she commanded. I did so.

Going as fast as aerobic muscle action allowed, she bolted the screws into place and finished just as the door was opening. But it wasn't Oberon.

Instead Director Fury opened the door.

Erik was luckily in the bathroom at the time so he didn't have to face Fury's wrath when he caught sight of the three of us. Jeremy hid the wrench behind his back quickly but his eyes screamed 'guilty'.

In her haste to get out, Talia had gotten caught on a loose edge of metal and I had helped her out; but just as the director stepped in, she'd gotten unstuck, slid out, and in my surprise, I accidentally dropped her. She hit the floor first with her head and neck, then shoulders, then her legs slid down and she ultimately landed on her back with one ankle caught in the bars on the side.

She gasped, and I assumed she'd had the air knocked out of her. Anybody would have after a fall like that. Slowly, she moved into an all-fours position. I offered my hand to help her up and she accepted, standing but hiding the pain.

"What is going on in here?" Fury shouted, good eye flashing dangerously. No answer but a lot of shifty, guilty movements. He turned his piercing gaze on Talia. I heard her swallow. "And you? What are you even doing in the boys' room? You know that's against the rules!"

"No it's not," she whispered to the floor.

"What did you just say?" I thought he was going to blow a fuse.

"Girls are still permitted in the boys' room. It's the boys not allowed in the girls' rooms," she stated more confidently, jaw clenched, yet not daring to look Fury in the eye.

"Not anymore they aren't then. From here out, the rule goes both ways." He turned to all three of us again. "And whose idea was it to sabotage your teammate?"

Silence.

"ANSWER ME!" he shouted.

We flinched away from his anger. JJ opened his mouth, but Fury waved him off. "Oh I know it wasn't you, Barton. Don't try to take the blame for them."

After another long pause, Fury said, "Well someone must've come up with it or it wouldn't've gotten done."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Erik take a step out of the bathroom, freeze, and slip back in. Good choice, I thought.

"You two." Fury pointed at myself and Natalia. "With me." He motioned for us to follow him out of the room.

She looked at me, and I gestured with my head for her to go first. She gave a tiny nod before following Fury; I left the room as well and closed the door behind us but it didn't matter- Fury took us the whole way to the same conference room we'd had the meeting in earlier.

"Sit," he commanded. We did so, taking seats as far from Fury as possible. I tried to stare Fury down but his one eye was so unnerving, I dropped my glare to the table. "So tell me. Is there some sort of plot or something between the two of you I should know about?" His voice bordered between deathly calm and poisonous. "Vanek?" No response. "Stark?" I wasn't about to tell him anything. He smacked his hands on the table, causing the two of us to jump.

"Maybe this will work if we send you home?" He faced me.

Before I could stop myself and think, my mouth opened and words poured out. "No! You can't! My parents will kill me!" Fury looked amused and I realized what I'd said. Inwardly, I cursed my own stupidity.

"Oh will they now?" he said.

I kicked myself under the table for being baited into a response.

Fury turned slightly away from us and spoke into his earpiece. "Agent Hill? Put me through to Stark Tower....Yeah, the screen in the conference room...Thanks."

Dead.

Dead.

I was dead.

Dad would have my head on a silver platter for taking the M18. And Mom- I didn't even want to imagine. Somehow, Fury had known exactly which button to push.

"Fine! Fine, ok? It was my idea. I didn't like the thought of the Asgardian coming to our planet, upstaging our team, and getting all the credit for winning our battles. I thought with a little outside help maybe you'd see the point and send him back to Fairyland," I finished, crossing my arms over my chest.

Fury spoke into his earpiece again and said, "Nevermind, Hill. Wait- ...yeah...yes, you have the go ahead." He faced us again and leaned over the table.

"As your punishment, Stark, you're to fix whatever's been done to that bunk. Then, the two of you are each to spend two hours a day- at different times- working with Agent Cale in the detention level helping with the upkeep, maintenance, or whatever else he tells you. Your punishment ends when I say so. Cale's in charge. You'll do what he wants you to do when he wants you doing it exactly the way he wants it done. Am I clear?"

He looked at me first. "Yeah," I mumbled.

"Yes, sir," he corrected.

"No need to call me sir, Director," I retorted.

"Excuse me?" Fury hissed icily.

"Excused," I replied. Under the table, Talia ground her heel into my toes as a warning, but I pulled away.

"Oh now you're asking for it, Stark," he growled.

I snapped back, "And what exactly would I be asking for?"

"I'm raising your punishment to four hours a day. And yours, Vanek, to three."

Her head shot up, eyes wide."But I didn't- He-" she protested.

"I don't suggest you try negotiating with me right now. I am not in the mood."

"But Director!"

"Another peep out of you, Vanek, and I'll have you serve in the kitchens as well," he threatened. She opened her mouth to answer, thought better, and instead gave an angry huff. "Agent Cale will notify you when he wants you. Dismissed. And if you take any detours, I'll know." He finished by tapping a section of the table used as a monitor for security camera footage.

Talia got up, walking stiffly out of the room. I followed closely, not wanting to spend another second in the same room as Fury. As we walked, I noticed the way she moved wasn't fluid like normal; instead, it was choppy and uneven and looked like she was hiding a limp. Then I remembered dropping her.

"Hey, Natalia, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to drop-" I started.

"Shut up!" She rounded on me, finger prepared to punch a hole through my sternum. "Shut up right now!"

I held my hands up in a universal gesture of surrender. Didn't she get it? I was trying to apologize for crying out loud!

For a brief moment it looked like she was about to say more before she turned away with a disgusted shake of her head and limped down the hall. It was nearing midnight so I didn't bother fixing Oberon's bunk. Only collapsed in my own bunk and fell into uneasy sleep.

In the morning, I woke up early and went straight to the training room. Evan joined me a little while later but we didn't talk. After an hour or so, Evan left and Talia came in. She headed for a punching bag and began to wallop it to death. She knew I was there; I could tell from the care she took to not look at my side of the room.

Without unwrapping the tape around my hands, I got up and walked over, putting myself on the other side of the punching bag to stop it and grabbing both sides.

"Do you mind?" she snapped. "I'm actually doing something here."

I answered calmly, "Yeah. I see that."

"Then what do you want?" she spat, tone laced with venom. Ooooohhhh she was mad. As she blew a chunk of sweaty bang out of her eyes, I noticed a smear of soot across her face and a small burn blister on her shoulder.

"Cale had you maintenance the turbines?" I guessed.

She eyed me cautiously before deciding to answer. "What's it to you?"

I ignored her remark and stepped in her way as she tried going to a different punching bag. "Hey!" I said, trying to get her attention.

"What?"

"I don't know why you're so angry at me. I took the blame; I stuck my neck out for you last night. I saved your sorry Russian assassin rump. Fury would've given you an even worse punishment than he did and maybe even sent you back to base." I could tell I'd hit a nerve from the expression that crossed her face.

She side stepped around me and found a smaller punching bag. The rapid thuds created by her connecting fists weren't exactly reassuring as she began to beat the living daylights out of it.

I caught one of her taped fists in mine before saying, "Would you listen for just a second?! I'm trying to apolo- ah- argh- The heck was that for?!" She'd socked me a right hook straight to the jaw. And let me tell you: it HURT.

"To get you to shut up," she replied, voice low. "Save it for someone who cares. Thank you for standing up last night and not tattling me out. Happy now? Got what you came for? Good. Now get out of my face and stay out of my way." She stormed off, grabbing her bag on the way out.

I watched her leave before finishing my three hours and showering back in the dorm room.

After my shower, I crawled under Obiwan's bunk and fixed the supports. Just as I was twisting the last bolt in place, my pager went off. It surprised me enough that I dropped the wrench on my face. "Could today possibly get any worse?" I moaned, rubbing my nose.

After Agent Cale gave me my assignment, I learned that, yeah, today could get a lot worse.

I laid on my back under a massive chunk of super hot metal in a cramped space with a blow torch set with a white hot flame and covered in itchy metal shavings in suffocating heat. And did I mention I get claustrophobic? "Hey Universe," I growled through gritted teeth. "When I said that earlier, it was rhetorical, not a challenge."


	6. Some Fun Begins

Sean's PoV: I hated every second of working in the detention level. When four hours was over, I'd missed breakfast, lunch, and the time Erik and I were going to work on the repulsor.

Once I'd showered again and made my way down to the lab, I saw the finished blueprint sitting flat on the worktable next to a rotating 3D thigmohologram (a touchable hologram). "Rhodes, you're brilliant," I chuckled.

I hadn't realized he was standing in the doorway so it surprised me when he answered, "Why thank you but you don't have to remind me of what I already know."

I smiled and we discussed the repulsor and its workings, trying to find suitable materials for a prototype and possibly the final model.

"What about Palladium?" Erik suggested.

I nodded as I thought about it. "Hardened once smelted. Doesn't tarnish in air. It could work. But if it's busted, it has rare tendencies to shatter explosively. And it's heavy; heavier than iron. What about Ruthenium or Hassium?"

"Hassium's too dense. As well as it could be unstable paired with the repulsor." He was silent for a second before adding, "Ruthenium's a good bet. It's the right density as well as a decent weight. As long as its stable, there won't be a problem with using it."

"How could we stabilize it here?"

He thought again. "Something from column II or a transition metal."

I stared at the model for a second before it hit me. "Got it. From outside in: we melt iron into Ruthenium into Beryllium." I used the projected hologram to explain what I meant.

When Erik saw it on the hologram, he nodded in understanding. "One question," he said, leaning back on his swivel chair.

"Shoot," I told him.

"Where are you going to get Beryllium?"

That caught me off guard. "Didn't think about that. Dad always finds a way to get what he wants somehow. Even if it takes an arm and a leg to get there."

Suddenly Erik stood and began to pace. "I made a mistake. Ruthenium has a valence shell with one electron normally."

I picked up his point immediately. "So it couldn't bond stably with iron."

"Exactly."

"Gr. What about Rhenium?" I suggested tentatively.

"Rhenium? That's harder to find than Beryllium. It's 1ppb (part per billion), dude. Not happening."

"Ah. Yeah. Well what about Tungsten?"

"Tungsten: high melting point, high density, but practically unworkable with our resources here. Which is when we return to Hassium," he prompted.

"Isn't it radioactive?"

"Radioactivity couldn't possibly harm me more than it already has," he retorted bitterly.

"Maybe for you but it would for sure kill me"

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Sometimes I forget."

"It's alright. How about plain iron?" I suggested.

"Melting point is too low for the increased heat of the repulsor. Especially in flight, if you had to sustain the beam to aid in control it'd melt the suit right off your hand. But if we combined iron with pall-"

"Ya know," Talia's voice interrupted us. "Listening to the two of you talk nerdy to each other is pretty entertaining whether I understand it or not."

"How long have you been there?" I asked as she pushed off the doorframe and strode toward us.

"Oh not long." She smirked, crossing the room and sitting between us on the worktable. She began to swing her feet like a little kid.

I asked, "How much did you hear?"

"Science this, element that," she answered. "Fury sent me to fetch you two for dinner."

"What?" I blurted.

"Dinner?" Erik echoed.

She nodded, eyebrows raised like we were kindergarteners.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Almost 7:45," she told me.

"Wait a minute. I thought you weren't talking to me?"

She shrugged. "I'm in a good mood."

"Fine. Whatever. I'm starving." I closed down the hologram and rolled the blueprint away before Erik and I went down to dinner. When we finished, we cleaned the lab- which took longer than we thought it would- and went to bed. For some reason, Evan didn't come in until almost midnight. What for, I had no idea; but I knew I'd find out in the morning.

Natalia's PoV: After my morning workout, I showered and headed to breakfast. JJ met me on the way and began to ramble. "Talia, I'm really sorry about last night and I would have owned up to it but Fury didn't believe it was really me so I didn't know what else to do or I would have taken the blame. Sorry."

I managed a smile for him. Poor guy. "It's alright." I dismissed it with a wave of my hand. "It was a brilliant idea. We just got caught that's all."

"But Fury wouldn't believe it was my idea."

"Just means he's not as smart as he looks."

He looked a little happier at this. Then his face lit up. "But it still worked didn't it? I mean, Stark got back too late to fix Obiwan's bunk so he still had a sleepless night."

I grinned and watched as August got up to pour herself an eighth cup of coffee. Note to self- stay away from a caffeinated August.

I busied myself on organizing my files (which desperately needed it) for the afternoon and skipped lunch. At 5, I ran into JJ again. "I'm bored," he complained.

"Go play video games with August," I told him.

"Never!" He answered, eyes wide. "Do you have any idea how many cups of coffee she's had so far today?"

"Uh eight?" I guessed.

"Fifteen! Fifteen cups of coffee! I'm not going anywhere near her!"

"How about we prank someone?"

"Really? After what happened last night?" He looked at me skeptically.

"We just won't get busted this time."

"Ok then!" His regular mischievous grin returned to his face and he ran a hand through his already messy sandy brown hair.

"You are such a little kid," I told him, laughing a little. "Who should we prank?"

"Evan!" He replied immediately.

"Eh..."

"Evan. Trust me."

"Fine."

"Let's hide his pillow. Or maybe his teddy bear." He began to bounce up and down with excitement.

"Lame. How about- wait. He's got a teddy bear?!" JJ nodded. Oh this was perfect! "Ok we'll hide the teddy bear."

"It makes a nice hackeysack," he mused. "Rhodes and I were chucking it around this morning."

This made me laugh for some reason. "Ok so we can make clues or something and then hide the clues so that one clue leads to the teddy but all the previous clues just lead to the next clue."

"Alright," he agreed.

We typed up the clues and split up to hide them. JJ grabbed the teddy bear along the way and hid it on top of a monitor in the observation room out of reach after taping a sign that read 'Carter's Captain Teddykins' to its forehead.

Sean's PoV: I woke up to the sounds of Jeremy and Evan duking it out over a teddy bear. Of all things. I reluctantly got up and did my required workout before showering and heading to breakfast.

Sitting at the table, my pager went off. But mine wasn't the only one. All of our pagers were beeping incessantly. Fury and Hill charged into the room and told us to suit up. All except Rhodes: Hill led him away to do something else.

We scrambled around for a second to gather our things before I jogged to the lab. I snatched the homing bands and the portable suit. I slipped the glove on and it began to expand to cover my forearm, crawling up my arm and onto my shoulder.

As a group, we clustered at the hangar where Fury was issuing instructions. "Barton and Vanek, take the Quinjet. Carter, August: you two grab parachutes in the back and jump when either Vanek or Barton gives the order. Oberon, take that magical sledgehammer of yours and hop in back with them. I want you to clear the air before they make their drop to make sure they'll have a clear land. Stark," Fury faced me. "I need you flying alongside the Quinjet to keep the airspace clear for the drop. Something- *anything*- gets on your radar, blow it to dust."

I nodded once and stood to wait for everyone to get in position. Soon, the jet revved up and took off. As it turned, the wing clipped my armored shoulder. I lost my balance and wasn't fast enough to grab anything nearby. I tumbled head first backwards off the Helicarrier just as the Quinjet roared out if the hangar.

"Deploy! Mark 18 deploy!" The suit completed expanding and covered my body, the mask sliding into place with a snick. I was encompassed in the red and gold iron shell. "Now how does this work?" I muttered, still plummeting to my death.

JARVIS spoke into my ear, "Sir, I have located the jet two kilometers North of your position."

I managed to activate the rockets and stabilized myself in the air. Now beginning to feel more comfortable, I answered, "Thank you, JARVIS."

I angled the suit and shot off, uneasily at first but gradually becoming more sure of the controls. When the jet was in sight, I gave the boosters more juice and brought up my radar screen. The Quinjet showed up blue and each bird was green.

As the Quinjet dipped in a sudden patch of turbulence, I had to swerve to avoid colliding with it. Suddenly, something moving fast hit me broad side and I didn't take a chance. I blasted it and turned to watch charred pigeon falling through the air.

"Woops."

A red dot came to life, blinking, on the screen before me and made a beeline for the Quinjet. "Yo, Angel, incoming 7 o'clock."

"Got it," she answered. The jet lurched downward as a missile sailed above it. I faced the approaching plane and was forced to duck as a missile sailed over my head as well. I shot at the plane repeatedly until it circled back for another try.

Eventually I stopped the plane and caught up with the team. "I have no clue what I'm doing," I muttered to myself before another small flock of pigeons buffeted me with their wings. "Stupid- feathers- nasty- little-"

"Sir, it does not do well to curse the pigeons while an enemy aircraft is on your tail," JARVIS warned me.

A red dot appeared on my screen, and I decided it'd be best to lead the jet away from Natalia and the others than to blow it up within firing distance of the Quinjet. With a small measure of difficulty, I shot off in the opposite direction and grinned when the jet followed.

Once we were far enough away, I dropped onto the cockpit and broke through the glass, hoping to send the pilot back to the ground for oxygen. Just my luck they had a droid piloting the jet. I eagerly ripped its head off.

"Stark, heads up." Barton's voice came through the earpiece. "Oberon's making the jump and we need you to clear the air for him."

"Got it." And with that, the Quinjet lowered the ramp and Oberon jumped. I dove with him but left plenty of room between us if he needed to change direction or if I needed to head back quickly. While I kept an eye out for any incoming danger, he flew like a little fairy princess to the ground. He put on a sudden burst of speed and disappeared from sight.

"Keep on him, Stark," Talia told me.

I aimed straight for the ground and let gravity help. There was no way I could keep up with this guy even with extra juice to the rockets until I learned the suit better.

"Where are you? Obiwan's almost at ground level now. What's going on?" Barton questioned.

"Dude, I'm trying. Seriously."

"Then try harder." That was Fury. Oh crap.

"Director Fury, I'm giving the boosters all they've got-"

JARVIS interrupted, "Terminal velocity reached. Speed will stabilize at-"

Fury spat back, "I don't care! If you can't help Oberon then go back to Vanek and Barton to help out there."

"Whatever. Sparkbug can deal on his own," I muttered, turning for the jet again. When Carter and August dropped, I kept plenty clear for them. Carter managed the jump with military accuracy; August on the other hand was laughing maniacally and turning somersaults and cartwheels in the air.


	7. Tourists and Witch Doctors

Sean's PoV: An hour had gone by and there was no sign from any of the three on the ground to be picked up. The arms of the suit were growing heavier as I fought to remain upright in the air. The airspace was clear and all three had made it down safely so I had to wait here, bored out of my mind.

The Quinjet hovered in front of me a little and if I leaned forward slightly, I could glimpse JJ and Angel in the front seat deeply discussing their personal feelings for each other. I couldn't stay in a forward position for long because the gyrobalance in the program wouldn't let me.

Suddenly, my arm was jerked sideways. The flight sustaining boosters cut off before being given an enormous spot of power. I was launched unwillingly over the jet, boosters sputtering out.

"Stark! Quit fooling around. We've got a job to do," JJ spoke into my earpiece.

"It's not me! Someone's messing with the suit!" I replied, plummeting downward before being violently thrown to the left like a ragdoll away from the jet.

"Then fix it quick and get your butt back in action." Fury's voice.

"Uh, Houston, we have a problem!" I answered, fighting to regain control of the suit.

"Then fix it, Stark!" Fury spat back.

I growled and fought harder for control. It wasn't easy battling an invisible force intent on making me look stupid. The force didn't seem to be trying to kill me but it was still impossible to regain control until I heard Rhodes' voice in the earpiece, "I got him. Some video game nerd from China hacked your frequency but I shut him down."

"Thanks, man."

"No problem," he replied.

I returned to being bored. After five or so minutes, I learned that shooting pigeons out of the sky was incredibly fun. So I busied myself until Carter and August needed to be picked up.

August's PoV: When Jeremy gave the order, I grabbed a parachute and strapped into it, tightening what I could with shaking hands. I wasn't nervous at all, just regretting the last ten cups of coffee. Note to self- no more than seven cups a day.

I finally got the parachute on and waited for Carter to finally step off the ramp. Once he was clear, I backed up and sprinted off, leaping out of the Quinjet and tumbling through the open air.

"WOOHOOHOOO!!!" I screamed. Below me, a ghost-white Evan was spreading his arms and legs to maintain his speed. Booorrring! I forced my arms into a similar position but began to do cartwheels instead.

As we began to plummet closer to the ground, I made sure to pull my chute at the right time. Evan and I floated to the ground and when we hit, I remembered to roll. The last time I'd made a drop like this, I'd forgotten to roll and had been sore for weeks.

When I stood and fought my way out of the chute, I saw Evan stiffly unclipping himself from the pack. I smirked; he'd forgotten to roll.

It didn't take long for us to follow the instructions fed to us from JJ and Talia and find the road. If you could call it a road. It was a narrow, grungy, red dirt path that snaked its way through thick trees before opening onto a flat expanse filled with ramshackle huts and shelters.

As we gradually came closer, I could hear voices and music coming from inside the shacks. Light spilled from the openings in some that I assumed were windows. The wail of an infant pierced the twilight.

The light faded and we found ourselves walking in thick, velvety darkness. To my right, a dog growled menacingly. To my left, Evan tensed.

I couldn't have taken three more steps before the dog hit me, knocking my knees out from under me and forcing me to face plant in the path. Sharp pain shot from just below my knee all the way up my leg.

My first thought was something along the lines of 'Maybe this is why Uncle Nick never let me have a pet'. My second thought was 'I hope it doesn't have rabies'. The third thought to cross my mind, though it probably shouldn't have been third was 'GET IT OFF'.

Sure enough, Evan took a swinging kick at the animal and I heard it whimper. Next thing I knew, he was dragging me to my feet. "Come on," he said, heading deeper into the labyrinth of huts. I limped after him, muttering a thank you through gritted teeth.

When the GPS finally said we were there, I found myself standing in a pool of candle and lantern light from a run down structure. It was the most worthy building of the title 'house' for miles around yet wasn't quite 'house' worthy.

A woman bustled out the door with her arms laden in linen bandages; a bucket was balanced on her head and I assumed it was empty because I didn't hear anything sloshing around inside.

"Excuse me," Evan called to her.

The woman turned and stared at us in wide eyed surprise.

He took a step closer and continued, "Is this the house of the doctor?"

The woman just stared at him. Then I realized, she didn't speak English. So I stepped forward and addressed her in Hindi. When I knew she understood me, I asked, "Is there a doctor around? I am hurt." I gestured to my injured leg as I spoke.

The woman nodded and pointed back inside the structure while telling me in rapid Hindi that the Doctor was inside.

I thanked her and led the way through the sagging doorframe and into the building. The inside was in much better condition than the outside. It was clean and organized and had more than one room. As we walked, voices could be heard moaning, whispering, some even arguing through the thin walls.

I followed what seemed like a hallway until it opened into a main room where five people lay on the floor. They were covered in blankets and seemed to be suffering a fever. Above them stood two women who were boiling rags to be used as bandages.

In the corner stood a stocky man with short brown hair and I knew immediately that he was the doctor.

Fury wanted this to be simple, so I played the move most agents had dubbed as 'tourist'. I would pretend I had no idea who he was or where he was from. The only trouble would be getting Evan to play along without being too obvious.

I limped heavily with one hand on Evan's shoulder and tried to pass on the plan through morse code squeezes. He was either too dull to pick up on the hints or he didn't know morse code because when we reached a stool, he set me down and backed up.

"Are you the doctor?" I asked in Hindi.

The man with the brown hair pivoted to face me and nodded. "Yes. I'm a little busy at the moment but what can I do for you?"

I grimaced and showed him the bite on my leg. He nodded and spoke to the two women helping. They scurried around grabbing bandages, a pail of boiling water, a bottle of something or other, and a knife. When he was handed the materials, the doctor went to work on my leg, cutting off my pants leg and cleaning the wound.

He talked as he worked, probably a habit to keep patients calm. "You're not from around here are you?" He asked me, still in Hindi.

I shook my head. "No. My cousin and I are here on a school trip but we got lost and just followed the road to this place."

"Aha. How did this happen then?" He gestured to my leg.

"We walked past a dog that was unchained and it attacked me."

He nodded again. "Alright. Well you got here in time and it's not infected. That's the good news. The bad news is that it may take awhile to heal. I don't believe I caught your name."

"August," I told him.

"Dr. Banner," he answered. He offered a hand and I shook it.

"Thank you, Doctor."

He waved it off with a small smile before issuing a few commands to the women and turning back to me. "And how did you learn to speak Hindi so well?"

"Through the school's foreign cultures program. Each student is given a chance to choose a foreign language to learn and I chose Hindi."

"Not French or Spanish?" he asked.

"Too boring." I was glad Evan was staying out of things. And as long as the conversation was still in Hindi, I didn't have to worry about him butting in either.

Dr. Banner chuckled before beginning to wrap my leg. When he finished, he told me to remain sitting until he handed me a crutch. I thanked him and hobbled over to where Evan stood.

I watched as Dr. Banner helped the fever patients for a bit before he returned to where Evan and I stood.

"So," he began, this time in English. "August Fury."

"Huh?" I answered very intelligently.

"Ah c'mon. Everyone that at one time was associated with SHIELD got word somehow of Fury's niece being added as an agent after a slim pass of her acceptance test."

"That's not fair! I had a 79.5! That's close enough to 80. If I hadn't tripped..." I trailed off when I realized both Carter and Banner were laughing at me.

"And I'm safely assuming that you're not cousins?" Banner asked, turning to Carter.

"Cousins? What? No." Evan shook his head.

"Who are you then?" Banner countered, entirely serious now.

Evan hesitated before answering, "Evan Carter, uh, Peggy's grandson, the Captain's replacement." He scowled at the floor, kicking at the dust.

"Replacement?" Banner looked confused. "Replacement for what? Steve's still alive as far as I know."

Evan looked up with a hint of surprise before hiding it behind guarded boredom. What was up with him?

"I'll explain on the way, Doc. For now, we need you to help us with something," I told him.

"Alright," he agreed. "What do you need help with?"

"First, are your helpers here capable of everything if you leave for a few hours?" He nodded. "Second, it's a ways down the path so-"

"I'm not stupid, kid," he interrupted me. "I know Fury's trying to bring me in. Why else would he send the two of you?"

I paused. It was a very good question.

There really wouldn't be any other reason Uncle Nick would send us to the heart of India. Well, looks like I'd have to be honest. "Yeah. You're right. But he's told me his plan and he just wants your help on a new weapon. That's all. He doesn't want you for missions or anything and he says you're the only one that knows the science well enough to be of any use."

Ok so maybe that last part wasn't so honest but hey, if it got him into the jet then it would have to do.

"That's all Fury wants?" Banner was obviously tentative.

I nodded and was elated when he nodded slowly as well. He gave some orders to the ladies helping and motioned for us to lead the way out.

When we'd walked the whole distance back to the drop point, Evan signaled the Quinjet to pick us up. Within five minutes, it had landed and we were boarding.

I buckled into a seat and Dr. Banner took the seat nearest mine. Evan sat across from us, gloomily crossing his arms. This guy had issues.

I was about to ask him what was up when Banner spoke. "Agent Fury, how did you learn to speak fluent Hindi since I know SHIELD doesn't offer it and you clearly didn't learn it from your school's foreign cultures program?"

"Um well, we don't really know how it started but I was messing around one day in the lab with some other agents and some sort of side effect or something gave me a few powers."

"What kinds of powers?"

"I can speak any language fluently without having heard it before. Every language I hear makes just as much sense to me as the two of us talking right now. I can turn invisible too. And use shadows as a form of teleportation."

He blinked at me for a second, probably debating if I was serious or not. This was a common reaction. Other common reactions usually include laughter or a command to prove it. He simply sat there and blinked.

The jet came to a halt in the Helicarrier hangar and we lowered the ramp. Immediately, I limped off to my room to take a nap.

Sean's PoV: "Keep an eye out now, Stark," Angel's voice came through my earpiece. "Obiwan's in the air with you because there's only room for three in back."

"Yup," I answered her, fighting my way through another cloud of dratted pigeons.

"And please, we know it's hard for you, but don't do anything stupid."

"I think I can manage that," I replied, playing along.

"We'll see."

I rolled my eyes and waited while we drew nearer to the Helicarrier. When we landed, I shut off the power to the boosters and promptly fell on my face with exhaustion and the weight of the suit.

"Mark 18 retract. Retract for goodness sake," I groaned.

As the weight of the suit shrank and confined itself to my shoulder, then forearm, I stood and looked around.

Vanek smirked at me and I assumed she'd seen me land on my face. JJ was accepting what looked like a mug of hot chocolate from a crew member. August was no where to be seen. Oberon stood shiftily in the corner with a small brown box. As I watched him, curious to see what was in the box, he caught me staring and humphed away down the hall to the bunks. No sign of Carter but Erik could be easily seen standing at the glass 'window' of sorts that viewed the landing dock.

I decided to join him, avoid Fury, and drop off the suit conveniently all at the same time. I began to climb the stairs to the lab with sore legs.

Erik's PoV: As the Quinjet and team returned from the mission, I finished reporting to Agent Hill and turned my attention to a rapid feed of binary code issuing across a small screen attached to my headset. It was only a prototype of course but at least it was working. Sort of. The feed sped up and became too fast for me to read.

I blinked hard and pulled off the headset, shutting down the mini screen as Sean came in and began putting away his suit. Or should I say: the suit of his Dad's that he brought from home when he ran out.

Um, yeah, I knew. I'd tapped into the call (accidentally) when Pepper had contacted Fury when she couldn't find Sean. That lady matched Fury's anger and reasoning and shut. him. down. I've never seen someone that livid.

In the end, Fury had said he'd personally keep an eye on him and that seemed to pacify her. No one knew I knew and I wanted to keep it that way.

I reached for a mug of coffee on a nearby worktable and froze when the lab door slid open behind me. A hazily familiar voice said, "Wow, the old lab huh?"

I swung around so fast I tripped over my own foot. "Uncle Bruce?" My mouth hung open in disbelief and all the man could do was chuckle at me.

I was stunned and he just smiled and walked around the lab. "But...how-how'd you...they, Fury I mean...he's not..." I stammered.

My uncle nodded, smile disappearing. "Yes. He is." No. Fury was insane. He couldn't. It would never work.

"Uh, yeah, hi. You lost me," Sean said.

And he did look confused. But wasn't it obvious? Fury had already succeeded in the first step as well. What came next? I needed to know what came next.

"Erik?" my uncle said, calling my attention back to the present and the situation in the lab. "May I speak with you? On the top deck?" I nodded and walked out with him.


	8. Undercover

Sean's PoV: Erik left with Dr. Banner and I watched the lab door slide shut behind them. After vainly puzzling over the scene that had occurred in front of me, I felt exhausted. Seeing the sky a swirled sort of grey and orange, I headed for breakfast. Wow, we'd been on the mission all day.

Only Evan and Oberon were in the mess room so I sat with them and ate. Problems I'd experienced with the suit ran through my mind. The balance in the gyrosystem was off and the left booster vent felt dented. Not to mention the hundreds of pigeon feathers that had gotten caught in chinks in the armor. Stupid pigeons.

When I'd finished eating, I headed back to the lab to pull the feathers out of the suit and polish it. The booster vent and gyrobalance would take longer than I could stay awake for. Yawning, I stumbled into bed and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I slept all day and all night until the next morning. Talia and I sparred that morning for our workout and it ended when I was too bruised to continue. We'd put in more than the required three hours but it was alright with us. We chatted while we watched Oberon spar with Carter before we showered and headed to lunch where she was called away by Agent Hill.

I left for the lab again and began to fix the booster vent. I was just starting to reprogram the gyrobalance when Dr. Banner and Erik came in. I shut off the loud rock music I'd been using to keep focused just in case hulking out could be set off by loud music. Having two giant green rage monsters trashing the Helicarrier would be very very bad.

They separated as they came in and Erik began to clean up his workspace but Dr. Banner simply wandered around. Now and then he would pick something up or check a computer screen or tamper with a gadget; he commented on blueprints here or there but remained fairly quiet.

After a week and a day, the detention had been lifted from myself and Talia. The team was being forced to practice together for an hour each day through scenarios and simulations that the SHIELD crew would set up for us.

Miraculously, Evan still had his teddy bear (though an ear had fallen off in a tragic hackey sack keep-away accident).

The whole time not much had been seen of Dr. Banner. He would be glimpsed walking around the Helicarrier with an agent or two or in the conference room, deeply debating different matters with Fury. And when he wasn't in the control room helping out with the computers, he spent almost every other second with Erik. It wasn't hard to figure out that something was going on. But what?

I was on my way to the wishbone docking port to meet Talia and JJ for a run through drill with a Quinjet when my pager went off. What now? I jogged toward the docking bay and found the others there as well.

Fury was already dealing out orders: "August, you hang back with Dr. Banner. I need your eyes on our target and if it moves, we need a heads up. Oberon, take Stark's position and keep the air clear. Carter and Stark- you'll ride in the Quinjet and follow what Vanek and Barton tell you. Vanek, you know what to do; I believe Hill briefed you yesterday?" She nodded, completely down to business. "Erik, I need you as copilot."

Jeremy had been listening intently but now began bouncing up and down in excitement. "Ooh! Ooh! OOH!"

Fury rolled his eyes in exasperation and nodded at Jeremy.

"YES!" Jeremy crowed before vaulting over the railing, dashing to the jet, and buckling into the pilot's seat- still bouncing...

Wow, he probably never got to pilot if he was this excited about it.

Fury brought our attention back to himself. "Have at it, but don't draw attention to yourselves. We can't afford to make a scene." He stared pointedly at Natalia, "Persuasion. Only."

She smirked before leading Evan and myself to the jet. We stepped up the ramp and took seats as the ramp closed mechanically behind us. Talia took the seat beside me and I opened my mouth to ask her something when I spotted three bags hanging in the corner. They were those kind of clear dry-cleaner bags my mom used for her dresses. They contained two formal suits and a shimmery olive green gown.

I raised an eyebrow at Talia and said, "Explain."

Once the jet was steady in the air, she replied, "Vienna. We're going to retrieve the Captain. He's been invited to some hooty tooty military party to honor a battle or whatever and we're crashing. Sean, you're going in place of your dad. Carter, you're going in place of your grandmother."

"And you?" I asked her.

"I'm undercover as an Austrian duchess."

Evan and I nodded and we continued the rest of the way in silence. At twenty minutes to go, JJ's voice came over the sound system from the cockpit, "Suit up, guys. We're landing in an empty field near your destination so you might have to walk."

We stood at the same time, but Talia paused. "I can wait. You guys change first." And she sat again with her eyes to the far wall.

I handed Evan a light grey formal suit and he began to change. I grabbed the black suit and tried to not wrinkle anything as I changed as well. Once we were close enough to done, we faced the wall and let Talia change while we pulled on socks and shoes and ties. Somehow, I managed to get my bowtie done without help. That was a first.

"Ok. I'm all set," she told us three or so minutes later.

We turned around and I nearly passed out. The off-green of the dress was the exact shade of her hazel eyes. The fitted strapless bodice flattered her and flowed down to brush the floor in iridescent layers. She was tying a black stone necklace on and a pair of heels sat on her seat.

"Rrrrawr," I teased with a wink.

She glared at me and took a step closer so her face invaded my personal bubble. She hooked her fingers under my bowtie, pulling it choking tight, and hissed, "Mission, Stark. Keep your mind on the mission." She let go with a little push, and I took a needed gulp of air.

When we'd finished putting the final touches on our disguises, JJ's voice came over the sound system again. "Everyone ready? Hold on. The landing might be rough."

Might be?

As we hit the earth, Evan and I were too slow to grab something and were sent sprawling. We were bounced once, twice- I think I sat on something- three times, I knocked into Evan and we slid into Talia who had managed to grab something and was standing. Four times. Four painful bounces before the jet's motion stopped.

Evan and I groaned, peeling ourselves off the floor, while Natalia simply walked over to lower the ramp. I stood and brushed myself off, straightening the jacket and running a hand through my hair. Evan had sat up but I saw him dart out of the jet and run around to the side.

When he returned, he mumbled something to Talia. She smirked and handed him a stick of gum.

When I'd joined them, I whispered to Talia, "What was up with him?"

"He said he forgot to tell JJ he gets motion sick," she whispered back.

I nodded in reply as we walked through the clear Austrian night. In less than three minutes, we arrived at a large marble building with golden light pouring from every window. Guests in formal military attire and fancy clothing were steadily entering the stately front doors.

Natalia bumped me with her elbow and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I answered.

"Aren't you supposed to offer me your arm to walk in on?"

I actually had thought of this but I shook my head. "I'm supposed to be here in place of my dad which means people will know I'm here. They'll be watching for me. If they spotted me escorting an Austrian duchess, it'd be all over the tabloids. Our cover would be totally blown. Use Carter."

She nodded and grabbed Carter's arm and we ascended the steps.

Evan's PoV: I led Natalia into the party on my arm feeling like a dog being dragged by its owner. Two large crystal chandeliers swayed from a vaulted ceiling and cast light on the mingling guests. The over powering smells of cologne and perfume threatened to make me sick again and the babble of several languages filled the air.

The three of us stood in a corner, wondering which was the Captain. It'd been almost nineteen years since the last time the Avengers had been together and we couldn't be sure what any of them looked like anymore. Now and then, Natalia was asked to dance by a few foreign diplomats but she always returned to Stark and myself after a couple songs.

After an hour or so, I spotted him. And felt stupid for not seeing him sooner. He looked exactly as he had in all of Grandmum's photos, all of SHIELD's photos, and the photo we'd been briefed with. "There he is. That's the captain," I blurted, pointing him out.

He sat in his military formals at a table with a handful of elderly men also in uniform. And he was laughing. I'd never seen a picture of him laughing, I realized. He was usually covered in mud or talking to an officer. There had even been a picture of him as this scrawny kid at a boot camp before he met Dr. Erskine. Grandmum had told me the whole story of his change and the war and what he did for America.

"Who's getting him?" Sean asked.

I began to shake my head but Talia was already walking toward the Captain. She smoothly snagged a glass of champagne from a server's tray and began to converse with a German delegate. When Steve stood and moved toward a different group of men in uniform, Talia classically intercepted him, spilling champagne down both their fronts. He, like any other gentleman, took the blame and began to apologize profusely while helping mop up the mess before a waiter came to clean it.

When he stood, Natalia told him something I couldn't make out. He froze.

A haunted look passed over his face and his eyes widened. His expression was a mix of disbelief, bordering on frightened.

He posed a question to Natalia and I saw her nod slowly. He raised his eyes to stare right at myself and Sean. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sean incline is head in respect and saw Steve return it.

My brain shut down.

I couldn't think.

Dumbstruck.

Grandmum had shown me photo after photo, bored me to death with stories, rambled on and on about this guy. She scolded me by saying "Steve would never" or "The Captain wouldn't say something like that"; she tried encouraging me with phrases like "Steve would approve" or "I remember when the Captain himself did that". She's been obsessed with this guy for as long as I could remember and now he was standing in front of me. It was... not quite a nightmare but something very similar.

I snapped out of my reverie when Steve extended his hand toward Stark. "Howard's grandson. I never would have thought Howard would get married and settle down. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

"Likewise," Sean replied, shaking the captain's hand.

Then he extended a hand toward me. "So you're Peggy's grandson?"

I nodded, shaking his hand but not trusting myself to speak.

"Does she remember me? At all?" he asked.

I nodded and found my voice, "Remember you? You're all she ever thinks about anymore. You're one of the few memories she can clearly recall." I paused. "She says you owe her a date. A dance."

Natalia's PoV: After a bit of small talk, introductions, and a few stories, I noticed Evan looking really pale. He left, muttering something about needing air. I knew he'd been sick after our jet ride but he didn't look sick. Just bothered.

"So, Captain Rogers?" I asked, facing the legendary soldier. "Will you come or not?"

He shook his head. "I'm done marching to Fury's fife."

"Alright," I answered.

Once the Captain was called away by a man in a military formal, Sean hissed to me, "What?! We can't just go waltzing back to Fury without the Cap."

"Let me handle it. Go dance with someone; have a drink- nothing alcoholic; enjoy yourself. This is a party after all."

He made a face but walked over to a pretty blonde girl and asked her to dance. She immediately blew him off because she didn't speak English. He apologized before snagging a glass of water from a waiter and sitting at a group of other guys his age.

I kept a close eye on the Captain as he disappeared down a hallway to the right. I slipped a vial of clear liquid out of my dress and grabbed a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray. Emptying the contents of the vial into the glass, I swilled it around and dug in my dress for some coins. I brought out the coins and hid the vial again.

When another waiter passed me, I stopped him and asked him to give the champagne to the Captain. The man looked skeptical before I slid a handful of coins onto the tray as well. He pocketed the coins and nodded.

I watched as the waiter offered the champagne to the Cap and the soldier accepted. He took a gulp from the glass before staring out a window, probably wondering if he'd made the right decision.

Within three minutes, he'd drained the glass and I was walking in his direction again. 3...2...1... I counted in my head.

'Now,' I thought. Right on cue, the Captain collapsed to the floor, out cold.

I got Sean and Evan to help me drag the Captain out the back door before anyone saw us. The boys carried his limp body to where JJ had left the Quinjet in the field and we climbed in, hauling the Captain's body into a corner.

"I'm changing first," I announced. I had to get out of these stupid heels. I kicked them off immediately and waited until JJ had us in the air with a rough takeoff before telling the boys to face the wall.

Carter tossed his suitcoat over the Captain's head with a mutter of 'just in case'. I unzipped the dress and stepped out of it, hanging it back in its bag before pulling on black skinny jeans and a green t shirt.

"Okay," I said, moving away from the corner. As the guys changed, I turned my back and laced up my combat boots. When they'd finished, Evan took his seat again and buckled in, already turning green.

"Talia, necklace?" Sean asked.

"What?" It took me a second to understand what he meant. "Oh!" My hand flew to my collarbone where the obsidian necklace still hung. I picked at the knot for a minute or so before pulling it around to my chin. I couldn't see it so I turned it back and tried to loosen it for another minute before giving up. "Help?" I asked Sean.

He half smiled with amusement at my frustration before easily taking the knot apart. "Got it." One side of the necklace swung down and he folded it neatly before handing it back.

"Thanks," I told him, hating the fact that I couldn't do it myself.

"You're welcome," he answered.

"What? No sarcastic answers? No witty remarks about how females aren't capable? Nothing?"

He shrugged with a look that said he didn't really care before leaning back in his seat beside me and crossing his arms over his chest. He plugged in his earbuds and closed his eyes. Not two minutes later, he was asleep.

I considered asking Evan if he was alright and maybe getting him to talk about what happened at the party but one glance told me he wasn't in the condition to be talking. I sighed and got up simply for the sake of moving around. I slid the partition between the cockpit and main hold aside to see what was going on there. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Jeremy Jacques Barton! What the heck are you doing?! Who's flying the jet?!" I stared in disbelief at JJ and Erik reclined back in their chairs, feet kicked up on the jet console, playing catch with a colorful ball roughly the size of a golf ball. It seemed to be able to fly on its own and was shooting around the cockpit with a faint whirring sound.

With an ease that said they'd been playing with the flying toy for a while, JJ snatched it out of the air. "Chill, drama queen. Erik hooked up the jet's autopilot to some sort of GPS tracking system so that it could fly itself. We'll be at the Helicarrier in an hour or so."

My mouth opened and closed several times but I was unable to form words. I shut the partition with more force than was really necessary and sank back into my seat.

Since Sean was asleep and I was bored, I pulled an earbud out of his ear and reached for his phone to see what he was listening to. I'd never heard the song before but I liked it, so I busied myself with exploring Sean's phone. The passcode wasn't hard to guess- Fe18, the atomic symbol for iron and the number of his suit. He'd deleted most of his recent conversations and the ones that remained didn't carry any secrets. No games to occupy me. Wow, this guy had the most boring phone I had ever hacked.

There really wasn't anything left to look through but more of his songs, so I opened the tab and looked through them. The playlist contained everything from Billy Joel and The Beatles to Black Sabbath and some weird Icelandic death metal. Diverse, I liked it. I sat back and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was dropping off to sleep.


	9. Hamsters and Cupcakes

Natalia's PoV: JJ managed to land the jet in the Helicarrier without killing everyone on board, but Evan ran away sick again once we'd docked. I was still tired even after my nap so I headed for my bunk, took a long shower, and fell into bed. It was only an hour later before August came in with the footsteps of a prancing elephant. How that girl passed her SHIELD field exam I had no clue!

"August, what are you doing?" I snapped, propping myself on an elbow. She was holding a small brown box that was vaguely familiar. I hazily remembered seeing Oberon carrying the same box after our trek into India.

"Nothing," she answered in a tone that totally said 'something'.

"August, what's in the box?" I sat up and rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. I stood and walked to where she stood beside her bed, spreading the contents on her comforter. Various pill bottles and packets, syringes and needles covered the space. "What is all this?"

"Performance enhancing chemicals and minerals... for science," she answered, turning those large grey eyes on me. As far as people went, August was pretty insane. She experimented, she tweaked with technology, she enjoyed being electrocuted, and she liked sharp objects.

She even looked insane: wide grey eyes, spiky black hair, shifty movements as if she were hiding a secret and someone was about to find out what it was, jittery twitches now and then when she was sugar high or hyped on coffee.

She began to pack away her materials, and I couldn't do anything but to stand and stare. She wasn't doing anything wrong but it definitely wasn't anything good. "What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

"I'm going to get some mice and inject them with formulas to give them our specific powers and test the results of the chemicals on the mice to see how they would affect us." She answered as if people did this every day.

"And where did you get this box?"

"From Obiwan."

"Where did he get it?"

"India."

"From who?"

"I dunno," she answered, shrugging.

I shook my head in exasperation and muttered, "I'm going back to bed." I crawled under the sheets and slept uneasily for another hour; my dreams were filled with hordes of green mice hulking out on steroids and chasing a bunch of red, white, and blue striped mice around the Helicarrier.

I woke up again when bangs and thuds began carrying from the boys' room into ours. When I threw off the sheets to warn them what might happen if they didn't stop, I saw August sitting cross legged on the floor beside six cages each containing three white mice. In front of her sat her box of steroids.

"I didn't think you were serious!" I shouted.

She simply turned to stare at me.

"What's Fury going to say when he finds out??"

"Nothing," she answered as if it were obvious. "I need some help; can you take the-"

"No! I'm not going to help you! This is illegal!"

"No it's not. It's science," she argued.

"I'm telling Fury." I swung my feet over the bed and was halfway to the door when she tackled me.

"No! Don't tell Uncle Nick!"

We began to roll on the floor, wrestling to stop the other. I was more skilled than August by far and we both knew it, but she was quick. Every time I managed to get away, I found myself face first on the floor not two seconds later. It also didn't help that she'd had three cups of coffee and a king size box of nerds. The mingled scents of fruity candy and mocha frappe hung around her like a cloud.

Sean's PoV: I guess I woke up when we docked the jet but I don't remember anything except crawling under the sheets in my bunk. I drifted off at first but woke up each time something occurred in the room which made it pointless to try sleeping when you added up how many times I woke up.

When Erik tripped over Evan's teddy bear; JJ ran into the doorway; August and Talia argued next door; Evan and JJ ran into each other; Evan turned the lights on; JJ turned them off again; Oberon came in and began to chase JJ around for no reason (knowing JJ there probably was a reason); JJ turned the lights on; Obiwan bashed his head on a bunk; girls still screaming- about drugs of all things!

I sat up and glared as menacingly as I could when my eyes were fighting to close again. All of us guys were in our pjs but only Erik and I were in bed. Erik lay on his bed playing minecraft, Obiwan was trying to kill JJ who was rudely egging him on, and Carter was trying to recover his teddy bear which was being brandished at JJ in place of Obiwan's usual weapon.

Where's my camera when I need it?

In the hallway, the girls were screaming at each other about the effects of steroids on gamma radiation. Oh boy. This could not be good.

The guys all ended up in the hallway with them, trying to kill each other, or in JJ's case: avoid being killed.

We fought in general mayhem until a haggard looking Rogers stepped out of a room down the hallway. We stopped immediately and silence reigned. I could hear when August dropped a needle. The Captain simply shook his head disapprovingly before heading back to his room and closing the door behind him. Not a word was said but the message was clear enough.

Evan was the first back into the room followed by Talia and myself. Erik was still on his bed glued to minecraft when JJ came in a minute or so after me, rubbing a spot on his wrist that was already bruising dark purple. He shut the lights off with a mutter of something like "Fury'd kill us" and we left it at that.

The next morning, Fury came barging in. As a group, we were forced to do our workouts together; it was quite the sight to watch JJ and Talia run through a martial arts routine. Of course, Talia always won, but it never stopped JJ from trying.

A handful of days had passed in which time we'd been used as a shift on the top deck to assist with the landing and sending off of other jets on various missions. Erik had broken a toe while he and JJ were messing with the cables even after Talia told them they would get hurt. After that we started listening to each other a little more.

We were all taught how to fly the Quinjets and program certain equipment pieces that we may never even use on the field. Each one of us was supposed to teach the others how to do a particular task we excelled at; Talia taught us how to fly and generally ran our training sessions, JJ taught us maintenance and how to have fun while goofing off behind Fury's back, and Erik and I were supposed to teach everyone how to use some of the technology, but after Carter set off a security breach and Oberon was still at the starting point, we gave up.

Fury was cracking down on training and conduct. Not a day went by without his little 'team' speech. When he wasn't lecturing us, he was no where else to be found. We'd been told to report to Agent Hill for everything now. The Captain was never seen and all we saw of Dr. Banner was brief, unless you were Erik of course.

Something was going on for sure but no one knew what. Not even Talia and she was Clearance Level 6. We could feel that Fury was preparing us for something other than just becoming a part of SHIELD; he had a specific task in mind but nothing was being divulged to us.

After roughly a month of living on the Helicarrier, I was scared to go home. Dad would be furious and I didn't even want to imagine how Mom would react. Then again, if they'd really been that angry, they would've known where I was and contacted Fury, wouldn't they? I wanted to go home but dreaded the time when I would have no other choice.

After another week of intense training, we were given the afternoon off to relax. We headed to the mess room for lunch and, under unspoken agreement, began a food fight.

Of course, Fury took this moment to walk into the chaos. A carrot slapped him in the eyepatch and left a trail of ranch dressing down his face. We froze. Instead of scolding us, he simply commanded, "Suit up."

We hopped up from the table and got ready to scatter when Talia asked, "Who's on what?"

Fury began giving orders, "I want you and Barton on the ground in front, undercover; you two will have the main task. Spotters, August and Stark, you'll be the back up as well as eyes and ears. Everything and anything that goes on I want to know. Oberon and Carter, I need the two of you to keep a border no larger than two blocks around our target. Any larger and they'll slip through the smallest of cracks. Rhodes, you're the ticket in and out."

As soon as Fury left, Talia began dishing out more specific commands. "Jeremy, get your bow and put it in some sort of case so it can't be seen. Stark, find some sunglasses and a ballcap or something; we can't have you getting mauled because people think you're your dad. Oberon, mortal clothes big guy. Erik, we need a boat, your job is to find the fastest one we've got; also, can you round up earpieces for the team? Everyone's going to need one."

"I don't think we have a complete set," he protested.

"Yes we do," I remembered. "We can use the new set we worked on yesterday."

"But they're not finished."

"They'll work fine for now," I said.

"Alright then," Talia interjected. "If they'll work then we'll use them."

We nodded and scrambled to get ready. I first headed for the bunk room to change out of my training clothes; I grabbed the darkest pair of sunglasses I could find on the way out and tucked them into a pocket. Erik and I hit the lab to grab everything we'd need before jogging to the top deck.

A blast of warm air and sunshine hit my face as we sprinted across the open expanse. Talia and JJ stood by a pulley system that was lowering a speedboat mechanically into the water below.

JJ and Talia were dressed like tourists in shorts, t shirts, and sneakers with sunglasses or hats. Talia had a messenger bag slung over one shoulder and was packing it with duct tape, spare ammunitions, zip tie handcuffs (which were absolutely evil- we had to undergo a week of training trying to escape from them. JJ was the only one to manage it so far and when asked how, his only response was that a 'secondhand Houdini' had shown him some tricks), an invisible ink pen, lock picks, and tranquilizer gun; and I assumed that the violin case on Jeremy's back held his high tech collapsible compact bow.

Erik handed them each an earpiece and put his own in. As he handed mine to me, Evan jogged up to us. He too was dressed as a tourist or vacationer in jeans and a t shirt; ironically he'd chosen a Superman t shirt. JJ and Evan finished lowering the boat to the water as Talia gave Erik a rundown of where to go or not go.

We waited until August came charging toward us dressed in neon and tie-dye. Subtle. A king size box of nerds stuck out her back pocket and a sweet tarts wrapper could be seen in her hand. Oberon glumly followed her in earth clothes and grumpy expression. He looked miserable to have stooped to our level and be forced to wear 'petty human attire'.

After a short pep talk from Fury (team this, blah blah, idiot kids, team that, don't mess up, blah blah), we slid one by one fire pole style down a rope to the speed boat. I almost snapped and pushed August into the water when it took her eternity and a day to get down the rope.

At last, we found our seats and settled in for the ride. In two minutes, Erik had the engine humming and we were skimming over the waves and being hit with salty spray.

August produced a monster sized bag of skittles from her backpack and we had a friendly competition to see who could catch the most in their mouth. We also ended up feeding some fish by accident...

As we got closer and the blob on the horizon took on the outline of Venice, we reviewed the plan. When we arrived, Erik docked the boat for us to get off before heading towards the getaway spot. We split into groups and I walked with August toward a broad sidewalk.

As soon as the rest of the team was out of sight, August took off for the nearest café and ordered a double espresso with extra sugar and whipped cream with caramel drizzle. She sucked it down in a matter of a minute and a half, some sort of new record for her I was sure.

She was so busy getting hyper that she didn't notice the man calling her back to pay. I rolled my eyes and dug in my pockets to pay for her. In the short time I had turned my back, she'd taken off again.

"Wow. Last time I ever work with her," I muttered. After a minute of searching the crowd, I spotted her by the canal talking with a gondolier. It was a good thing she was wearing neon or I would have never found her.

They conversed in rapid Italian before August grabbed my arm. "He agreed to give us a ride and-"

"No. No no no. And no!" I protested.

"Why not?" She pouted, jittery from the caffeine.

I knew I'd never win so I sighed and said, "Fine."

She exploded and went bouncing bunny style in a circle. I held up a finger and she bounced in front of me. "Two conditions: he has to keep us near the getaway spot, and *no singing*; or I will dump both of you in the canal without life vests." She stopped bouncing. "Get in."

The ride was short, the way I wanted it. As we exited the gondola, August tripped in her excitement but bounced right back up and kept walking. This girl was like the energizer bunny: she just never stopped going!

I made it a few steps before an old lady laid a vice grip on my arm. "Excuse me, are you Tony Stark?" she wheezed.

I swallowed uneasily before stuttering, "Uhhh..."

"Oh good! I've heard so much about you, read all the newspaper articles, even went to see one of your father's expositions in the nineties. Your work is remarkable!" Suddenly, her whole demeanor changed; it became more hostile, a little wilder. "Killing thousands of people in one shot, quite the feat. Your bombs and guns and whosy-whatsits will be the end of us all. How do you live with yourself?! How can you sleep at night knowing that thousands of people have been killed by your inventions?! You're despicable! A monster!"

I tried to stammer a response and pull away but the old lady was relentless. I could see the fight unfolding in a close by alleyway. When the tussle was almost over, a middle aged woman pulled the old lady off me. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark," she apologized. "My mother gets passionate about her opinions."

I nodded in an awkward acceptance of her apology before running off to join the team. By the time I reached the alley, the fight was over and I'd missed all the action.

Talia's PoV: As soon as we reached Venice, I began looking everywhere. Fury had only told us that the target was within a certain mile radius of the point we stood at now and headed in this direction. We had no sure location to go on, and knowing this target, it'd be so easy to lose control of the situation.

After fifteen minutes of walking, JJ spotted the target standing by a canal. I'll hand it to him; he really seemed to be taking this mission seriously, unlike the last one. We skirted around behind the target and melted into the crowd nearby.

"Target spotted," I spoke into my earpiece. "Moving in."

JJ and I pretended to laugh and joke with each other, speaking in Italian so we wouldn't seem out of place. When we were feet from the target, I pretended to trip and shoved forward with both hands, knocking Agent Clint Barton into the canal. I held back a laugh as he rose spluttering to the surface.

Agent Romanoff helped him out of the canal and I began to apologize in Italian. "What's she saying?" he muttered to Romanoff.

"She's apologizing," she answered, trying to avoid the puddle Barton caused as water streamed off his clothing. "Do you speak English?" she asked me in broken Italian.

I shook my head, thinking they might say something important because they thought I couldn't understand them. "No, I'm sorry. Do you have a hotel nearby?" I asked.

Romanoff nodded, explaining where it was located.

"Oh much too far," I answered still in Italian. "We live close to here, please let us help. I feel terrible for tripping. Have lunch with us- our mother is a wonderful cook."

Reluctantly, they agreed and followed Jeremy and me down a side pathway. We introduced ourselves as Natalie and Jeremy D'Antonio. They didn't give us their real names either; instead, they tried feeding us the story that they were tourists from Vermont (yeah right), Barton was a farmer (psh!), and Romanoff was a dentist (I almost burst out laughing right then).

As we neared the getaway spot, I looked behind us to try to see other members of the team. Easiest to locate was August in her neon, tripping as she got out of a gondola. Stark was right behind her- good. Evan was at a cafe sitting at a table and glaring at the sky. Obiwan sat across from him glaring at the earth. Wow, such an ecstatic bunch.

I signaled as discreetly as I could to the team before leading Romanoff and Barton down an alley. When we reached a dead end, I turned to face them and swapped to English before saying. "So, a dentist, huh, Agent Romanoff?"

"Who are you?" She replied, backing up until she saw Evan and Oberon behind her. Barton took half a step between us, holding out an arm to stop her.

"Agent Natalia Vanek, I think we're related somehow."

"Yeah, somehow, but what are you doing here?"

"Hm, I don't know, what do you think?" I retorted. From the corner of my eye, I saw JJ disappear up a fire escape and crouch on a rooftop neighboring the alley. He began pulling out his bow and getting it ready.

"Fury. I should've known. Well we won't do it. He can persua-"

Before she could finish, JJ had let his first arrow loose. It sailed an inch in front of Romanoff's nose and would have stuck itself into Barton's shoulder if he hadn't seen it coming and ducked just in time.

At the exact same instant, they leapt into action, Barton ducking under Romanoff as she vaulted toward me. He charged straight for Evan and Oberon, holding his own against both of them.

I had only a second to spare as Romanoff's fist sailed over my head. I ducked under her arm and rolled away, popping up and kicking her in the back of the knees. She collapsed, rolled, and stood again, quickly trying to attack. Fighting with her was more difficult than fighting with Hill; Romanoff was faster, tougher, used less tact and more instinct. She was more unpredictable and had a surprise hidden up her sleeve for every time I caught a solid hold on her.

We continued to fight, grabbing, clawing, and kicking while Barton wrestled with Carter. I could barely see August climb to the roof with JJ; what good she could do from up there I had no idea.

As Romanoff and I rolled in the dirt, I could glimpse Jeremy trying to get a good shot but we were moving too much. I had to find a way to make her stay still for half a second.

I had planned to let her pin me so JJ could get a clear shot but plans changed. As soon as Agent Romanoff had me pinned, August came flying down from the roof with the battle cry of "DIE HAMSTER!"

She tackled Romanoff, pulling her off me and rolling across the alleyway. August pinned her face down in the dirt giggling like an asylum escapee as I handcuffed the agent with a set of zip ties from my messengerbag.

I stood to help Carter but when I turned around, Barton was lying face down in the dirt with an arrow sprouting between his shoulder blades. Jeremy shot me a thumbs up from the roof before leaping onto the second platform of the fire escape and jumping off, throwing in a flip and roll for extra flashiness.

We handcuffed Barton for good measure and dragged the bodies to the getaway spot on the nearest canal. Lucky for us, it was almost entirely deserted and only two boats bobbed on the water; whether they were occupied or not, we didn't know.

Once we were all aboard, Erik steered us at top speed away from Venice. We dragged the limp forms of Agents Barton and Romanoff onto the Helicarrier and left them in the back of the media room while we settled in for an eight hour Lord of the Rings extended edition marathon. JJ popped an entire jumbo box of popcorn and August sneaked us some gummy bears and brownies.

I sank into the plush couch and JJ sat on one side with the world's largest bowl of popcorn. Carter took a chair and Obiwan claimed the recliner. August sat on the floor with a teepee of pixie sticks in front of her. Erik and Sean entered last, laughing and exchanging high fives.

"What's up with the two of you?" I asked as Sean sank into the spot beside me.

He tossed two bags of chips and a bag of pretzels on the footstool before answering, "Hill and Fury almost caught us but Erik used his newest toy- some sort of..." He trailed off, searching for the right word. "Dude, what did you call it?"

Erik looked up from his spot on the floor. "It's a chemical combination roughly equivalent to the texture and viscosity of petroleum or banana peels. 100% biodegradable too." He got up to pop in the dvd so Sean took over the narrative again.

"Anyway, it's like essence of slippery, so he sprayed some on the stairs when they weren't looking. Hill took one step and flew down the stairs. Man, Fury's face when he saw was priceless! He couldn't stop himself either- slipped straight after her. They weren't even mad; just started laughing at themselves."

"Won't you get in trouble?" I asked, grabbing a handful of pretzels and popcorn.

"Oh naw, they were laughing, weren't they? Besides, I think we've earned it," he said, kicking up the foot rest and leaning back.

I shook my head with a smile as the movie started. We snacked on junk food and soda, polishing off several large bottles of soda. By the end of the third disc, we were stuffed and Obiwan had fallen asleep; JJ was stuffing the Asgardian's nostrils with unpopped kernels while he snored away.

Just as the end credits of the last disc were beginning, Agent Barton started coming to. He rolled over and groaned before sitting up. "Uuhhh...what happened?" Then he realized he was caught in the zip ties. "What the- oh er lousy kids!" He struggled against the ties before giving up and instead shaking Romanoff awake.

She sat bolt upright with a start until she saw where she was. When she spotted me, she swore so heavily in Russian I could feel the heat rising to my face. I'd made sure to disarm her before the movie started so she was also unable to free herself from the zip ties.

"Hey! Cupcake woke up!" August said, hanging over the back of the couch to stare at them.

Evan ran to report to Hill that they'd woken up. She came and collected them and sent us all to the bunk wing with a sharp look. We threw out the empty bags of junk food and soda bottles before obeying orders. Willingly, we crashed in our bunks and quickly fell asleep.


	10. The Drugged Mouse Disaster

Erik's PoV: I rubbed my face and sat up. "Ah, dude, what *happened*?" I moaned. I felt like my head had been invaded by radio static or bumble bees.

A voice across the room replied, "That, my friend, is the feeling of a caffeine crash."

"But..." I tried to wake myself up by doing mental calculations but my brain refused to think straight.

"Don't even try it, Rhodes," Sean said, passing my bunk and appearing absolutely normal.

"Why aren't you...ya know...having issues?" I asked, sliding down from my bunk to the cold floor.

"I didn't drink three liters of Mountain Dew last night," he replied, laughing at my predicament.

"Oh. How soon will it wear off?" I started getting ready, wondering how long we'd slept for.

Sean was already ready and handing something to JJ; the latter was sitting on his bed and fiddling with something in the sheets. When JJ accepted a small piece of coiled wire from Sean, he faced me and answered, "A couple hours at most. You'll be fine until then. We've been given until noon to recover from our little party last night."

"What time is it?"

"Eh, ten something, I think?"

JJ nodded from his position on the bunk, adding, "Yep, 10:22."

I groaned and rubbed my forehead before heading to the kitchens to grab a bag of poptarts. Oberon had been eating half a box a day since August had let him try one, so now we had to hide the box of poptarts. I ripped open the foil wrapper as I walked to the lab.

On my way, I ran into Uncle Bruce and Natasha. They were talking quietly together as they walked, skirting close to the wall to take up as little hallway space as possible. "Erik?" My uncle called me over. I swallowed my mouthful of sugary pastry before joining them. "Have you met Agent Romanoff?" he asked.

I hesitated. "Um, well, sort of. I mean, I was on the mission and all. But we haven't really met," I stuttered.

She smiled and held out a hand. "Natasha Romanoff, nice to uh, officially meet you."

"Erik Rhodes, nice to officially meet you too," I replied, shaking her hand. For an assassin, she was not what you'd imagine. She was a whole hand shorter than me and I was only 5'9". Cherry red curls bobbed around her shoulders, and her smile eliminated anything about her that might appear dangerous.

As we stood there, Agent Barton joined us and another round of introductions followed. The conversation continued and the longer we talked, the more Agent Barton began to sound like a grown up version of JJ. They looked a lot alike too; they had the same sandy hair and mischievous smiles, similar attitudes and thought processes. The only major differences I could notice were their eyes and physical build; JJ was leaner and taller by a couple inches and his eyes were a greenish hazel, whereas his uncle's eyes were blue.

I realized that the fuzziness in my brain was gradually going away as we talked. The adults traded stories of their adventures and various run ins in the years they had been apart. I leaned on a wall until noon when I excused myself to the lab to meet Sean.

"Hey, did you ever figure out the calculations for the model on your bench?" he asked me as I collapsed into my swivel chair.

"Yeah why?" I answered, picking it up and tossing it to him.

He caught it and copied the calculations from the bottom onto a sheet of notebook paper already covered in doodles and geometric drawings. "I was just wondering."

He tossed it back and I caught it, setting it back on the bench. "Any commands from Fury?" I asked.

"Two hours of training this afternoon but other than that, just to take it easy."

"Nothing else?"

"Nope," he answered, pivoting in his chair to face me. The arc reactor glowed through the red t shirt he was wearing and created a weird pattern of blue lines. "Something's going on. There's something Fury's not telling us."

"There's a lot of stuff Fury doesn't tell us," I replied. "Like why we're bringing the avengers back together. Or why he needed us to do it in the first place. Or what we're going to be used for once he has all the avengers back. Or if he'll ever need us again once we're done. What will we be doing in the meantime if he does ever need us again?"

"You've thought through all this?" he asked, staring at me.

"I'm a chess player. I think through everything before I make a move."

"Ok then, Confucious, what do you say Fury wants from us now? He's never given us down time before. He clearly wants us on his side for some reason."

I knew what Fury wanted next but telling Sean would be a different matter. As to the latter half of his question, I would have to mull it over. "Well, Fury's next move is pretty obvious."

Sean stared at me as if waiting for me to explain. He didn't get it; of course he didn't get it, the human brain always tried to stay away from worst case scenarios. But it was staring us in the face!

"You don't know, do you?" I asked.

"Uh, no, that's why I asked," he said.

"Fury's going to-" I hesitated. I didn't know how to put this easily so I just blurted it out, "Sean, Fury's going to make you go home to persuade your dad to join the Avengers again."

He paled. "No can do," he said.

"Dude, I know you ran away from home to come with us," I told him.

"You ran away?!" Suddenly Talia appeared in the doorway. Her surprised and shocked statement ricocheted around the lab. She stared in wide eyed disbelief at Sean with her mouth hanging open slightly. "Does Fury know about this?!"

"Of course Fury knows about this!" I answered.

At the exact same time, Sean answered, "Of course Fury doesn't know about this!"

"So which is it?" She demanded. "Does he know or not?"

I turned to see Sean staring at me. His brain was working overtime trying to figure out a way to make things click, make the pieces fall into place.

"Sean?" Natalia asked, voice low and uncertain.

He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, leaning back in his chair and running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Yeah."

"Yeah? Yeah what?" she echoed.

"He knows. I should've seen it long before now. That night he caught us sabotaging Obiwan's bunk, he knew exactly what to say to get me to react. Besides, it's been more than a month; Mom would be having a fit if she didn't think I was here."

I nodded. "Your mom called Fury the second day you were here." I plunged on before either of them could say anything. "I was just trying to get my computer and headset set up and the next thing I knew, I was hearing Fury and your mom debating about whether you should be sent home or not."

"And what did they say?" He asked.

"Well, Fury thought you would be fine and was telling her he'd keep a personal eye out for you but she was- excuse the pun- she was furious," I explained. "She wanted you on a helicopter back to New York within the hour. Said you'd be grounded for life. She finally gave in when Fury promised you'd be safe."

He was completely silent for several minutes afterward. During my narrative, Talia had sat on the worktable between us and was staring quietly at the floor.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked at length.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Natalia retorted at Sean, beginning to sound agitated. She'd stopped swinging her feet and was watching him intently.

He shook his head and turned back to his work. "You wouldn't understand," he muttered.

"Try us," she replied.

He shook his head bitterly and began fiddling with a blueprint when August burst into the room. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, her katana was strapped to her back, and she clutched a handful of three inch long needles in her left fist. She looked bewildered and was breathing heavily.

"Mice...escaped...rampaging...DIE," she gasped at us.

"What on earth?" I said.

"Holy crap! August what did you do?" Talia exclaimed, jumping up from the worktable.

"What's she rambling on about?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Her stupid druggie mice are loose. She was doing some sort of testing on them I guess and- August!"

Fury's niece darted from the room just as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving behind the fruity reek of Swedish fish.

"This is really bad isn't it?" Sean said.

Talia nodded, too stunned to speak. When she found her voice, she croaked out, "This is bad. This is very, very bad."

We stood motionless for a second before sprinting into the corridor and running as fast as we could to who-knows-where. As we rounded a corner, an oversized green mouse darted between Talia's feet.

"Catch it!" she shouted. Sean and I scrambled after it.

I dove for the furry critter and felt it squirming securely between my fingers. "HA! I got it!" I said, holding the angry gerbil in the air. I returned it to August's supplied cage before continuing the hunt with Talia. Sean said he didn't feel so great so he went to crash in the dorm. I think he just wanted some peace to mentally work through the issue with his dad.

Sean's PoV: I woke from an uneasy nap filled with angry mice and batty old hags screaming death threats at me to find Carter rummaging around in the bathroom. When he emerged, he was carrying a heavy duty butterfly net.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"August's stupid mice are still on the loose," he answered.

"Ah," I returned, laying back down and closing my eyes. I sank back to sleep but it was short lived.

Jeremy's PoV: I walked down the hallway, replaying in my mind the scene of myself on the roof; the arrow slipped through my fingers, whizzing through the air, and embedding itself in Agent Barton's shoulder. It didn't disturb me that I'd shot my own uncle. In fact, it felt kinda good. As I strolled aimlessly through the Helicarrier, I zoned out and stopped paying attention to my surroundings until Carter knocked me aside with the handle to a jumbo butterfly net just as something the size of a burrito dashed between my feet.

"Are you-" I started.

"Aha! I got one!" he crowed, bringing the net down with a sharp 'clack'.

I jumped away from him a step. "Uh, Evan...what's going on?"

The large green mouse scrambled around madly under the net before chewing through the rope link squares.

"No!" Evan shouted. He dove to catch the rodent with his hands but missed and ended up face-planting on the smooth metal floor while the mouse scurried away.

I raised an eyebrow but continued on my way. I got to the mess room but was surprised to find the floor littered with crumbs and odd crunchy snacks.

Stepping around a pile of Lucky Charms, I opened a cabinet and let out a yell. Something the size of my hand flew off a box of granola bars and hurtled toward my face. It dug its claws into my forehead before vaulting to the table and scampering away, squeaking. "August!" I grumbled under my breath.


	11. Spontaneity 101

Sean's PoV: It had been one week since what was now known as "The Great Drugged Mouse Disaster". We still found mouse droppings and food trails in the mess room but whenever August was questioned, she claimed all her mice were where they belonged. Personally, I didn't believe her. Those stupid mice had chewed through half a blueprint by the time we got them out of the lab. At least now if any mice were still loose, they caused quiet trouble instead of total chaos.

I sat in the bunk room with JJ and Carter just goofing off since Fury had given us another free day. We played several rounds of Liar and Spoons before getting bored. Boredom was easily cured when my pager went off but no one else's. At first, I thought it might be broken but realized what Fury wanted me for.

Dread set in.

I took my time walking to the conference room where Fury usually gave us individual orders. When the door slid open, I was surprised to see Talia leaning on the table. She was arguing quietly with the director, intensely debating whatever point she was trying to prove. When I stepped in, she stopped immediately and let her head droop. She took a deep breath before straightening up and turning to face me.

Fury motioned for me to take a seat but I perched on the table beside Talia instead. She stepped away from me as if she were embarrassed before muttering that she'd be right back. She quickly crossed the room and left me alone with Director Fury.

"Stark, I need you to-"

"I know," I interrupted. "You want to send me home so I can persuade my dad to rejoin the Avengers."

"Pretty much," he answered. "It won't be easy. He was the first to drop out of the project and has refused all attempts to rejoin ever since."

"Why did he leave?" I asked.

Fury stared at me for the longest time until I was convinced he was trying to teach me mind reading. Eventually he replied, "He left when you were born."

I felt like he'd slapped me.

"He even refused to consult for us again until you were ten. He began consulting at sparse intervals only a few years ago."

I didn't know how to answer. I didn't know Dad had agreed to consult for SHIELD again; then again, I hadn't known he'd ever stopped consulting.

"We have a helicopter ready for you. Get your things packed and meet back here as soon as you can," he told me. He turned away and I took it to mean dismissal.

In a sort of stupor, I dragged my duffel out from under my bunk and began packing away all my things. I left my pillow and the M18, figuring Fury would only be sending me for so long before calling me back. If he even called me back without my dad...

When I'd finished, I slung the duffel over my shoulder and headed back. Before I opened the door, I heard voices inside and stopped. The first voice was clearly Fury's: "You know the rules; I expect you to stick to them. Your job is to be the final resort. If something happens that doesn't include you, I don't want you interfering. Am I understood?" There was no answer but Fury continued. "You're my inside eyes and ears on this. Don't let anything go wrong. If the situation leans the wrong way, push it back. Nothing more. Got it?"

The next voice to answer was unmistakably Talia's: "Yes, sir."

I stepped in and they stopped talking the second they knew I was there. Beside Talia sat a travel bag with her jacket thrown on top. Fury looked up when I entered and nodded once. "Good. The pilot's waiting. Second landing pad, top deck," he told us.

Natalia and I walked together to the top deck and navigated the familiar maze of cables and taxiing jets. The pilot was finishing a preflight check as we climbed in. "New York?" he asked. I nodded.

The two hour flight was spent mostly in silence since the noise around us was too much to shout over. I gazed out over the Atlantic for most of the ride until clouds obscured the view. Sighing, I leaned back and closed my eyes to take a nap.

After half an hour, the helicopter dipped violently and I woke with a start. Talia looked like she was going to be sick but I didn't think it was being caused by turbulence. 'You alright?' I mouthed to her. She nodded and I closed my eyes again.

When we landed, I woke up again and grabbed my bag. Natalia had pulled her arms into her jacket and was dragging her bag out from under the seats. Once we were out, the pilot took off again, sending Talia's shoulder length black hair in every direction. I let us in and stopped. "Hey, JARVIS," I said.

"Yes, sir?" The robotic butler's voice answered me from a speaker in the wall.

"Don't tell my parents I'm here yet. Okay?"

"Of course, sir," he replied.

"That is so cool." I pivoted to face Talia. She was smiling at the speaker and I made a mental note to introduce her to JARVIS later.

I led the way through Stark tower, down from the landing pad to the A-5 level. Mom stood at a smartscreen typing into the touch keyboard to her left. Her back was to us but just seeing her made me feel unusually relieved. Talia stood at my left shoulder and I was extremely glad for her presence at that moment. If she hadn't been there, I might have chickened out and turned back before anyone saw me. Maybe that was why Fury had sent her along; to stop me from running away again.

"Mom?" I said tentatively.

She stopped typing abruptly and spun around so fast pieces of her bun came loose and drifted around her ears. Her eyes widened and she ran toward me before crushing me in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe! You scared us to death when we couldn't find you!" she rambled, squeezing my ribcage until I stopped fighting for air. After a short pause, she held me at arms' length and growled, "Don't you dare ever do that again."

After I got enough air in my lungs that I knew I wouldn't pass out, I returned the hug. "I won't. I promise."

Then I remembered Talia. I pulled away and cleared my throat a little. When I glanced over my shoulder, Talia was standing to the side looking very uncomfortable. "Mom, this is my friend, Agent Natalia Vanek. Talia, this is my mom."

They exchanged greetings and formalities before my mom looked at me with a teasing glint in her eyes. She raised one eyebrow and I felt my face turn red.

"Not that kind of friend, Mom."

She laughed a little and looked me over and fixed my disheveled hair (despite complaints and protests, and with much giggling from Talia) before giving me one last bone-crushing hug.

She brought us over to the leather couch in the floor depression and invited us to sit. I sat between them and let my duffel fall to the floor at my feet.

"Your father doesn't know you're here, does he?" Mom asked.

I shook my head. "Where is he?"

She sighed. "In the work room. He discovered a new sort of flying technique and wanted to perfect it."

The workroom. Of course he was in the workroom. He spent most of his time there anyway. "I'll wait until he comes up," I said.

"While you wait, do you and Agent Vanek want to unpack or will you not be staying that long?" she asked us.

I swiveled to see Talia's expression but she was unreadable. She was acting stiff, as if Fury was watching her every move.

"We'll unpack first," I decided. I turned back to my mom to ask, "Talia can use the room three floors below the comm room, right?"

Mom nodded and I stood with Talia to lead her away through Stark Tower once again. We took the stairs since the elevator was broken again and made it to the room she'd be using. I opened the door and let it swing to the wall.

The room was half the floor and shaped similarly to an oval. One portion of the far wall was entirely floor to ceiling windows overlooking the eastern half of the city. The floor was covered by a thick red rug in the center of the room and was overlapped by the low queen sized bed to the left of the window wall. It was made up with pillows and blankets and a comforter, ready for someone to crash.

The wall opposite the bed was lined with bookshelves, a desk, and a dresser. It was simply the guest room but it was the only room the Avengers hadn't used when they stayed here after the battle for New York against the Chitauri.

"Will this be alright?" I teased her.

She smiled and sat on a corner of the bed, letting her travel bag fall to her feet. "I think so, but, um..." She hesitated slightly. "Can I use JARVIS?"

I laughed. Now she was sounding a little more like my teammate. "Of course! Yo, JARVIS, I'd like you to meet someone."

"And who would this someone be?" The familiar voice came over the speaker set into one wall in the room beside the door leading to the bathroom.

"JARVIS, say hello to Agent Natalia Vanek."

Talia smiled and listened as JARVIS replied, "Hello, ma'am."

"Hello, JARVIS," she said, suppressing a giggle. She looked at me before asking, "I can talk to him whenever I need and he'll answer me?"

I nodded. Wow, she was enjoying this more than I was.

"Anytime? About anything?" she insisted.

I nodded again. "What are you thinking of discussing with our butler?"

"Oh nothing," she answered, unzipping her bag and peeling off her jacket.

"You'll be alright if I leave you alone now?" I asked.

She looked up at me again with an expression that said 'seriously?'. She could fend for herself if she needed to. And if she got lost, JARVIS knew who she was now so he could always help her.

"I'm six floors up if you need me," I offered before leaving and heading for my own room. I opened the door to my room and took a deep breath. Still looked like a wreck but I knew exactly where everything was. I sat on my bed to unpack when I couldn't resist the urge to check my desk top. The note I had left the night I ran away was missing. Good, that meant they'd found it. I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding and continued to unpack.

When I'd finished, I made my way back to the A-5 level where I was surprised to see Talia and Mom sitting on the couch and talking like old friends. But the second I joined them, Talia began acting stiff again.

We sat together and talked until I heard my dad's muffled voice in the hallway. I froze; what if he chewed me out for running away? I was relieved of my speculations when he stepped out of the staircase and crossed the room.

I don't remember standing but when my dad reached us, we faced each other for a second. It seemed like an eternity that we stood there before he stepped closer and pulled me into a firm hug. I hugged him in return before stepping away and introducing Natalia.

That was that; I was home now. It felt so good to be free of the burden of guilt I'd been carrying for the past month and a half. My parents interrogated me and Talia about our adventures on board the Helicarrier before Mom got up to make dinner. We ate together and Mom told me everything that had happened at home after I left. Nothing important really.

When we'd finished dinner, the sky outside was turning a light shade of pink swirled with grey and orange over New York City. After another hour, Dad was called away to meet with a business partner or whatnot and we were left with my mom again. She asked Talia plenty of questions but she refused to open up.

When eleven o'clock rolled around, Talia and I were wide awake from the time change but my parents were exhausted. Mom excused herself and headed to bed with Dad who was falling asleep in his chair. When they were gone I turned to Talia with a questioning look.

"What?" she answered.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"You're acting so different. Why?" I insisted.

"I don't know your parents. I want them to think I'm normal to some extent right?" she replied.

"But this isn't you. Did Fury tell you something you can't tell me?" I pressed.

"Maybe," she answered, turning away from me and staring at the couch cushion.

"What did he say?"

"That defeats the purpose of not being able to tell you, doesn't it?" She smiled a little and raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah I guess," I chuckled. Now she was starting to loosen up. "But can't you tell me anyway?"

"Um, no, duh."

"Why not?" I asked.

She laughed at me and shook her head. "Because I can't!"

"Just break the rules for once," I pushed. "You do everything by the book. Everything is training and protocol for you. Have you ever done anything spontaneous in your life?"

She was silent before answering, "I don't do everything by the book." I made a face and she gave in, "Ok maybe I do a lot of things by the book but I do break the rules now and then."

"But when you do, you break the rules with other rules to back you up," I said.

This made her stop and think. "Then what were you thinking of, Mr. Break-all-the-rules?"

I smirked. "Get your pillow and whatever blankets you might want. Also, what do you like for snacks?"

This seemed to confuse her but she replied, "Popcorn, pretzels, Cheetos, apple chips?"

"Okay, good. Any preferences in music?"

"Anything that's on your phone is good with me," Talia answered.

How did she know what was on my phone? Oh well. I nodded and gestured for her to get her pillow. She left and I headed to the pantry, grabbing a bag of Cheetos, pretzels, popcorn, and the closest thing we had to apple chips- cinnamon apple flavored rice puffs. Eh, close enough.

I set everything on the counter and jogged to my room, grabbing a pillow, a fleece blanket, my phone with earbuds and speakers. I then ran to the third floor down from my room and snagged my favorite hoodie from the laundry. I'd forgotten to grab it when I left a month ago and it felt good to have it again. Yeah it was old and faded but it still fit and there were a lot of memories that went along with it. I then jogged to the theater room and picked out a few dvd's.

Talia was leaning on the back of the couch with her pillow and a blanket in her arms when I returned to A-5.

"Ready?" I asked.

"You haven't told me what I'm ready for," she countered, smiling.

"No, I guess I haven't," I teased.

"Sean, what do you have planned?" She asked.

"Some fun," I replied, scooping up the pretzels and cinnamon puffs. She grabbed the Cheetos and popcorn and I led her to the stairwell. We climbed up six floors before I opened a door and let her through.

We were standing in the clear night air at the very top of Stark Tower with city lights stretching out before us like an organized sea of lightning bugs. The sky above us was hazy and void of stars but that was normal here. A gentle breeze blew, sweeping across the tower and sending goosebumps over Talia's arms.

"C'mon," I told her quietly, leading her toward one end of the large oval. The top of the tower hadn't exactly been built for picnics but it had been built with purpose even if that purpose was unknown for several years.

It was roughly shaped like a lopsided oval with a four-foot wall all the way around. The 'ground' beneath us was rubberized tar like the material used for track and field tracks. The side I was leading Talia to had been set up as a sort of outdoor theater with a tv and sound system and all.

Before I got too far from the door, I called back, "JARVIS, if my parents ask, we're on the roof."

"Yes, sir. Shall I inform them now?" he answered.

"No, don't bother them now. Just when they wake up, and they've had time to get up and all, let 'em know where we are."

"Yes, sir."

When we reached the theater, Talia spread her thick blanket on the ground for us to sit on and claimed one side of it. "So I see popcorn and Cheetos," she began.

I smiled and produced the pretzels. "And pretzels." I set them beside her with the other munchies. "I couldn't find apple chips. But these are close enough, right?" I handed her the bag of cinnamon puffs and she looked them over with an amused expression.

When I'd popped in the first dvd, I took the part of the blanket beside her and opened the Cheetos. She opened the pretzels and we grabbed handfuls of junk food goodness.

Then the movie started and the Star Wars theme song began. Talia turned slightly to face me with a peculiar expression. "How did you know Star Wars was my favorite movie?"

"I asked Jeremy," I answered simply.

She made a face before sitting back to watch The Phantom Menace. Half way through the movie, I grabbed the fleece blanket and wrapped it around our shoulders because the breeze was picking up. Talia leaned back against my shoulder when the second movie began, grabbing another handful of cinnamon puffs.

I realized she'd fallen asleep when the second episode ended and she hadn't moved. In fact, she was snoring. It was a light sound with a sort of deep inhale through her mouth and quick exhale through her nose. I smiled in spite of myself and pulled the blanket closer around my shoulder when it slipped off.

Yawning, I ejected the dvd and cleaned everything up a little before I felt Talia gently twitch. She blinked her eyes open and yawned. "What happened? I fell asleep didn't I? Is it over?"

I nodded. "Yeah. All over."

"Aw," she replied, yawning again.

I noticed the shivers she tried to hide as the breeze switched directions and hit us from the front. "Cold?"

She opened her mouth to deny it before closing her mouth and simply nodding. I handed her my sweatshirt; pulling it over her head, she accepted it gladly and was swallowed in the worn, grey fabric.

I laid on my back and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath of cool night air. Talia lay down beside me, resting her head on my shoulder instead of her pillow. I was surprised at first but she had just woken up so maybe she wasn't thinking straight. As she began to drift off again, I pulled the fleece blanket over us and watched the twinkling city lights in the distance until my eyelids drifted shut.


	12. Persuasion...Kind Of

Natalia's PoV: I rolled over and froze. Where the heck was I?

Then I remembered- Stark Tower, Sean's little surprise, the night on the roof. I was just getting over my shock when an unexpected sound made me leap out of my skin.

"Excuse me, ma'am, sir, but Ms. Potts is looking for you," JARVIS informed us.

At the first sound of the mechanical British accent, Sean sat bolt upright beside me and blinked groggily. I fought to suppress a snort of laughter at the state of his hair; it stuck up in every direction as if he'd lost a fight with a ceiling fan. As he pushed off the blanket, he answered JARVIS, "Alright. Let Mom know we'll be down to A-5 in ten minutes."

"Right away, sir."

"You drool in your sleep," I told him, noticing the dark puddle on his pillow.

"You snore in your sleep," he countered with a teasing smile.

I laughed a little, pulling my fingers into the sleeves of his hoodie. It had kept me warm during the night but with the sun beating on us now, it was too hot. I pulled it over my head and passed it back to him, folding up a blanket and grabbing my pillow.

"Sleep alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I had the weirdest dream though..." I replied.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You're not going to tell me what it was about?" he asked.

"Nope," I answered.

He chuckled and grabbed two bags of munchies. I grabbed the other two and the dvds.

"Well it started with all of us in Venice again," I started, deciding it wouldn't hurt to tell him. "Except, we were all dressed like skittles and we were supposed to be trick or treating but August had eaten all the candy."

He burst out laughing harder than I'd ever seen him laugh before. "Now that I can see," he said.

I nodded, smiling before we collected everything we had brought with us and headed down the stairs. We left the food in the kitchen and the blankets and pillows where they belonged before Sean led the way to the room we had spent most of the night in before.

His mom stood at the counter, coffee mug in hand, sipping the steaming liquid and reading an e-newspaper on a holographic touchscreen. She flicked to the next page before turning to us with a warm smile. "Good morning," she greeted.

I suddenly felt shy, careful about everything I did or said. But why? Sean's parents were friendly, welcoming, nothing like some parents I'd met. I had never felt this way before so why now?

Sean greeted his mom with a peck on the cheek while he poured a mug of coffee. He passed it to me before pouring his own. "Where's Dad?" he asked, adding creamer to his mug.

Pepper checked her watch and replied, "Just finishing a business call in the comm room. He should be up shortly."

Sean nodded and tipped the steaming coffee to his lips.

"Well, Natalia, I hope you slept well last night?" his mom asked me pleasantly.

"Yes, I did, thank you," I said, eyes flicking from my coffee to her face.

"Mom, is there breakfast?" Sean cut in.

She chuckled, shaking her head with a smile. "If you had woken up earlier there might have been."

"What? Why? What time is it?" he asked.

"Almost ten," she replied.

I stopped myself from spewing coffee across the granite countertop. "Almost ten?" I repeated after swallowing.

She nodded, eyes laughing at us.

"Yeah right," Sean said. "There's no way it's-"

He was interrupted by a pleasant ding as the elevator doors opened across the room. Tony Stark walked toward us, speaking into a Bluetooth and swirling a set of what looked like keys on his finger. I became self-consciously aware of my flannel pj pants and old t shirt, stepping a little behind the counter to try to hide some more.

Sean's dad ended the call and set the Bluetooth on the counter, wrapping one arm around his wife's waist and giving her a kiss. He pulled away and stepped behind her, setting a ring full of mini screwdriver heads beside the Bluetooth.

"Ugh, so glad that's over," he said, "That company supplier in Belarus wants three more shipments before next week," he told Pepper.

"I've got it handled," she told him, finishing her coffee and setting the mug in the sink.

"Thank you," he told her, leaning on the counter beside her. "And how was your first night at Stark Tower?" he asked me, turning his head so he could see me.

I shared a knowing look with Sean before he hid his smile in his mug and I answered, "Not what I was expecting. A lot better than I was expecting actually."

"And what might you have been expecting?" he continued.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Something a little more...crazy I guess."

"We can't always promise that things around here aren't crazy," Pepper told me, smiling.

I felt some of my nerves melting away as I smiled in return.

She pushed off the counter and said, "We'll let you kids get washed up and changed. Call for us if you need anything. And don't be afraid to ask JARVIS either."

With that, Sean and I left, carrying our coffee with us back to our rooms to get ready. I pulled clothes from my bag and sipped my coffee until it was finished, setting the empty mug on my nightstand and heading for the bathroom.

As I entered, I immediately knew this was the world's coolest bathroom. It was probably also the biggest bathroom I'd ever seen. The white tile floor was covered with fuzzy red rugs in front of the sink and high tech tub/shower. I set my clothes on the pink granite counter beside a clean white sink and checked out the shower.

"Whoa, someone's button happy," I commented, seeing several rows of buttons in a grid on the wall. None of them were labeled but they all looked the same. And I thought the showers on the Helicarrier were complicated! This was insane.

Then I remembered. "Hey JARVIS, wanna help me out here?"

"How may I be of assistance?" the butler's voice answered me through a speaker in the walls somewhere.

"How does the shower work?"

He described the function of each button, suggesting a few and making sure I knew which button did what.

"Thanks JARVIS," I told him when he was finished.

"Any time, ma'am."

I pushed four buttons to ask for medium-hot water dispensed from the ceiling of the shower. There were spots along the sides of the shower I assumed would also dispense water if chosen, but I didn't bother trying it.

After my shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out, drying off and changing. I pulled on a plain white v-neck t shirt and skinny jeans before stepping out, towel now wrapped around my hair. Fury had insisted I dress like a regular citizen in case I needed to go into the city. It wouldn't look good to be dressed in SHIELD uniform and wandering around the city almost destroyed by creatures that SHIELD wanted to kill with a nuclear missile. Even after almost twenty years, New York was bitter.

I combed out my hair and pulled it back into a messy bun before yawning. Sure enough, the clock on the nightstand read 10:30am. Wow, we'd slept really late.

I got up and walked around the room a few times to wake myself up before the coffee started kicking in. I pulled on neon green socks and headed up the stairs until Sean met me halfway. He held a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture before motioning for me to follow him.

What was this about? I followed after him, tiptoeing up the stairs. He slowed when we reached a doorway with the door half closed. He beckoned me closer and stood against the wall so we could listen without being seen.

Tony Stark's voice could be heard clearly from inside. "I'm listening, I just don't agree."

A muffled response I couldn't hear came next before Sean's dad sighed. "I know, and part of me wants to, but I can't. You have to know that."

"And why can't you?" This time, the other voice was more distinguishable. Masculine, baritone, quiet but firm. "It's not that difficult, Stark. You've only got two options: save the world or spend just a little more time with your family. And may I remind you that if you chose to save the world, you'd have plenty of time to spend with your family. Make a decision or I'll make one for you."

"I can't do it, Director," he replied. Director? Like Director Fury? What was he doing talking to Stark if that's why Sean and I were here?

"I've got no other choices," Fury said.

"Yes, you do, but you won't take them," Stark retorted.

"You know darn well why I can't bring them in. They're too volatile, especially Logan."

I sucked in a breath.

"What?" Sean whispered, leaning down. I shook my head, not daring to let myself believe it. "Who's he talking about?"

"James Howlett- or I guess he goes by James Logan now- more commonly known as Wolverine."

He opened his mouth to add something but his dad's voice cut him off. "You wouldn't dare. That's too risky, and you know it."

"It may be my only choice if you don't agree, Stark."

"No," I gasped quietly. "He can't. Fury wouldn't be dumb enough to do that. He'd put all our work in jeopardy. If the slightest thing went wrong, the entire project would go up in flames."

"He won't do it either, Fury, he's never been a good choice."

"He might be my only choice."

"What about Wilson? Last I heard, he's been sitting around with nothing to do."

I racked my brain to remember anything I might know about the name Wilson. It was familiar and part of me wanted to connect it with Agent Barton but that wasn't quite right. A stronger part of my memory definitely linked the name with Captain Rogers.

"Wilson hasn't just been sitting around; SHIELD has been giving him solo missions. He's rigged a new harness even better than the one T'Challa gave him."

"Then give him a chance to use it."

"He can't do what you can do."

"Pretty darn close to it though," Stark snapped. "Ask Munroe. Maybe Richards and the Storm kids. Still keeping tabs on them?"

"Yes, we are. SHIELD keeps tabs on all of our former members. Munroe is in Cairo with T'Challa undercover. I don't dare risk bringing in the Storms, and you know I wouldn't unless they were the only option."

"Aren't they?"

I felt my heart leap into my throat. Reed Richards? Mr. Fantastic? If Fury brought him in, that'd be amazing! But Richards wouldn't come without the rest of his team and that would make things way too difficult. So we returned to the fact that Tony Stark had to rejoin the Avengers.

"What about that little guy, what's his name...Parker?" Sean's dad suggested.

"Ha!" Fury laughed humorlessly. "You think he can do anything for us? This isn't a battle he can handle. He'd be squashed."

There were several minutes of complete silence before Stark sighed and answered, "Give me a day to think. I'll ask Pepper and let you know tomorrow."

"Good. I'll be waiting."

There was a click and the sound of footsteps crossing the room away from us. Sean led me up two more flights of stairs to an open room like a testing lab. Closing the door behind us, he sat on a table and faced me.

"Your dad has to come," I said.

"Yeah, that part I understood. But who were all those people he kept mentioning?"

I slumped onto a swivel stool and leaned against the table behind me. "Munroe would be Ororo Munroe; she's a member of the X-Men, known as Storm. Adding her to the mix would make things dangerous, especially with her claustrophobia. T'Challa, the Black Panther, he's Munroe's partner. They're inseparable, a lot like Barton and Romanoff."

"And Richards, Storm kids, Wilson- who are they?"

"Reed Richards and the Storms are members of the Fantastic Four. Johnny and Susan Storm would not be a good choice but Richards might be. The only thing is he can't do what your dad can do. Wilson..." I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration. Who was he? I know I'd read his name somewhere but where?

"Wilson." Sean had tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Isn't he the dude with the bird?"

"The Falcon! Of course! Sam Wilson is The Falcon, you're right."

"I am?" He looked surprised that he knew something I didn't.

"And Parker is-"

"Peter Parker. Spider-Man," he stuck in. "That's a lot of heroes."

"Yeah but we can't use them all. Maybe a few, I mean, Wilson could help but with the way Fury referred to the battle, I don't know, we may need more than just the Avengers."

Sean threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "Then why don't we just call in the Justice League and Batman while we're at it!"

"You know they're not real heroes. Just a knock off bunch of clowns in sparkly spandex outfits. And Batman? Really? The Joker would be of more help."

We sat in thoughtful silence before he slid off the table and offered me a hand up. I accepted and stood beside him. "We need to talk to my dad tonight," he said.

I nodded. "I can do the talking if you'd like-"

"No," he broke me off. "I'll talk to him. Fury told you not to interfere unless you had to."

"You heard that?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's alright. So what do we do now?"

His dark brown eyes twinkled mischievously as he answered, "There's video games downstairs. Mario Kart?"

"You know you'll lose."

He shrugged. "Wanna bet?"

"You're on," I challenged back.

When Pepper told JARVIS to fetch us for dinner, we raced up the stairs until I collapsed panting at the top, Sean right behind me. "I....win..." I gasped.

He managed a chuckle and replied, "You're dreaming."

I laughed with him until I'd caught my breath and stood. We took seats at the table, him across from me, and waited as Pepper and Tony joined us.

We ate with a constant stream of pleasant chatter until I glanced across the table at Sean. He acknowledged it with a tiny nod and spoke. "Earlier today, I tried using the comm channel to get the radio waves going but a call was jamming the connection. Was it the supplier in Belarus again?"

Tony Stark sighed and set down his fork. "It was Director Fury. He's asking me to rejoin the Avengers."

"Will you?" Sean asked.

Utter silence reigned in the dining room.

I almost didn't dare breathe in case I made too much noise. "Yes," he answered at long last. I let out a pent up breath in relief. "But only if your mother agrees."

All eyes turned to Pepper and she too set down her fork. "How dangerous is it?"

"Extremely."

She mock rolled her eyes with a tiny smile. "Well, the world needs Ironman."

"But so does my family," he countered.

"But if the world falls to ruin, will you have a family to come back to?"

He was quiet for a long time before shaking his head. "Guess not. If you're alright with it, I'll go."

"It's alright with me."

"So you'll rejoin the Avengers?" Sean's wide eyes asked confirmation.

His dad nodded and Sean's face broke into a grin. I couldn't help but smile as well and think 'That was easier than I thought it would be.'

We had ice cream for dessert and chatted until ten when Pepper and Tony headed to bed. I turned to face Sean on the leather sofa with my knees pulled up to my chest. "So," I began. "Anymore rooftop surprises?"

He was resting his elbows on his knees and staring at a spot on the floor without really seeing it. After a minute, he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

He shook his head but I could tell he was thinking hard about something, probably the conversation earlier between his dad and Director Fury. It was plenty to mull over and when picked apart, posed quite the problem. I was scared to think what might have happened if Sean's dad hadn't agreed to come along and Fury had brought in Munroe or Logan. I shook the thoughts from my mind and released my legs so they could hang in front of me.

"He agreed and that's all that matters, right? We get back to the Helicarrier and move on to the next step."

"It's not that simple. I wish it was but if Fury needed my dad so badly that he called him on his own, then why did he send us here? What good did we do?"

"Maybe sending you home was the extra push your dad needed to say yes," I suggested.

He sighed. "Yeah, maybe."

"Just don't dwell on it too much. We can ask him when we get back. Speaking of which, when are we going back?"

"I'm not sure. Didn't Fury tell you?"

I shook my head. "Not me. He didn't tell you?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."

He had a point. Huh. This wasn't like Fury. He always gave a date and time and everything rested on deadlines. To not have a set time meant something was dependent upon us being here for an unknown amount of time. But why?

I stood and stretched my arms back, rolling my neck and popping a few vertebrae. "Dunno about you but I'm exhausted. Winning fourty-seven straight games of Mario Kart really wears a girl out."

He stood too and smirked. "One of these days I'm going to beat you and you won't be able to say that."

I laughed, standing on tiptoe to bring my lips close to his ear. "Dream on," I whispered before returning to regular height and heading for the door.

I heard him chuckle behind me. "G'night, Angel," he said.

I smiled before replying, "G'night, Wrenchhead." I took the stairs back to my room and plopped onto the comfy mattress, changing into pjs and crawling under the blankets. He hadn't called me Angel for awhile and hearing it again had felt good.

Too bad that good feeling couldn't last.


	13. Debate and Argument

Sean's PoV: We packed up and boarded the helicopter sent for us the next day a little after noon. I climbed into the seat beside Talia and facing my dad. During the hour of uncomfortable silence, I watched the land unfold beneath us until we stepped onto the top deck of the Helicarrier once again. Fury met us at the bridge to the command center, gesturing for the three of us to follow him to the meeting room.

Around the table sat the old Avengers team (minus Thor), as well as the new Avengers. The first time we had all, adults and teens, been together since our trip to India for Dr. Banner. The adults sat on one side of the table, all looking morose and bothered, as if they had more important things to do while the younger team sat on the other side of the table, arms crossed and bearing grumpy expressions. Except for August- she happened to be drawing in a pile of rainbow colored pixie stick dust in front of her.

I took an empty seat beside Rhodes who was sitting beside his uncle. Talia claimed the chair between myself and JJ, propping her elbows on the table and tucking her bangs behind her ears.

No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared make eye contact across the table. The atmosphere was a mixture of dulled hostility and boredom.

Fury stepped into the room after speaking hurriedly with Agent Hill. He first addressed the older half of the table, not ignoring the younger team, just simply waiting to speak to them after. "I know this isn't where you want to be or what any of you want to be doing but it's necessary if the world as we know it is going to continue to spin. The future of earth is threatened by an outside force we can't possibly reason with."

"It's not that idiot Loki again, is it?" Agent Barton asked.

"Much worse than Loki," Fury replied.

"You'll have to be a little more specific than that," Dad stuck in. "There's a lot that's worse than a guy who- let's be honest here- wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the block."

I glanced quickly at Oberon and saw him smirk slightly. He had told us a story once of the first time he'd met the god Loki and how the god of mischief had created several copies of himself before letting each vanish and just laughing like a madman. If you asked me, it sounded like this guy's tree didn't go all the way to the top.

"Specifics can be discussed once I've told you what the threat is as far as we know," Fury continued.

"Then tell us already," Dad said quickly before Fury could start talking again.

The Director stared at my dad with his good eye before looking out over the command center and turning back. "Fine then. You've all heard of the Shadow King haven't you?"

Barton, Romanoff, Talia, JJ, Erik, and August all nodded. I had no clue who this Shadow King guy was but my mind conjured an image something like the ring wraiths in The Lord of the Rings: tall, dark, and creepy with lots of computer graphics and black billowing capes.

"So you haven't all heard," Fury said, sounding slightly agitated now. "The Shadow King is as an entity of pure psychic energy that feeds on the hatred of humanity. He can possess people and control their thoughts and actions. He has no physical form of his own but he has an unlimited source of minds at his disposal in a city like Washington, D.C."

"If he has no physical form then how do we get rid of him?" Evan asked.

Fury exhaled heavily and leaned on the table with his fingers spread. "We're not sure. We have reason to believe that if we can trap his presence in a human form and kill that form, then the Shadow King would have no choice but to die with them."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Barton commented.

"It wouldn't be hard if that's all we were dealing with. But he's amassed an army of...we don't quite know what." Fury continued, "From what we've seen, they're very much like ghosts. Hazy, dark beings that can phase their substance through solid objects at will and absorb light."

The room fell into silence before Romanoff shifted position and asked, "And you want us to do what exactly?"

Fury turned to watch her carefully before answering. "I want you," he paused to make it clear he was addressing the entire room, "all of you, to destroy his army and kill the Shadow King once and for all."

"When do we start?" Dr. Banner spoke up.

"As soon as the Shadow King looses his army on the city. Until then, there's no point jumping out to attack him where he's comfortable," Fury replied.

"Don't tell me they're tagging along too," Barton said, stabbing a thumb in the direction of the younger team.

"Yes they are," the Director answered calmly. "They're trained and know everything anyone else would. They've proven to be reliable under most any circumstance and even took down my two top level master assassins."

Barton and Romanoff shared a grumpy look before Fury stared down the older portion of the table, daring anyone to make an excuse as to why we couldn't take part in the fight.

"If there's no questions, then-" Fury was interrupted by Barton rolling his eyes. "Something you want to share, Agent Barton?"

"Uh yeah, and I think we'd all agree that you're treating us like them. You can't order us around. Why do you think we left SHIELD in the first place? To stop answering to you."

"I agree with him," Captain Rogers said. It was the first time he had spoken at all in this meeting and everyone fell silent to listen. "We hid from SHIELD for a reason. Why bring us back to do exactly what we were trying to get away from?"

Dad was next to interrupt: "Stop trying to be the good guy, Rogers. We all know why, we just need Fury to say it out loud."

"I wasn't asking you, Stark," Rogers retorted.

"Then don't ask stupid questions," Dad countered.

"Back to this, huh? Never can let someone else have the attention, can you? Of course not, because it's all about the famous Tony Stark."

"Just because you're not important-" he began.

"So, gunna confess you actually need us, Director?" Romanoff demanded. "That you can't cope without your heroes?"

Fury glared at each of them in turn. "It's not me that needs you. The Shadow King won't hesitate to level the world and rebuild from scratch the way he thinks things should be run."

Absolute silence stifled the room until the tension was broken by August's sudden sneeze. All eyes turned to stare at her until Dr. Banner stood and stretched. He left the room and was quickly followed by Barton and Romanoff. Erik and Evan left next and I glanced at Talia. She shook her head and we stood to go. August and my dad left soon after.

"Well that was a failure," Talia announced when we got back to the bunk room. I sank onto the chair under my bunk and she pulled JJ's chair away from his desk. Evan joined us, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You can say that again," he muttered.

I heaved a sigh and fiddled with some biochemoluminescent stuff Erik wanted me to experiment with. He said it could be a possible polygraph cheat but we needed to figure out how. It glowed very lightly in my palm until I set it in the shadows where the glow grew brighter.

"Why'd my dad have to go and start a fight?" I shook my head. "What did the Captain ever do to him?"

"Nothing," Talia answered, "From what I know, that's just how your dad is with him. Maybe it's because the Captain was good friends with your grandfather and your dad never knew him that well."

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"You never got a chance to meet your grandfather did you?" Evan asked, watching my expression through narrowed eyes.

I shook my head. He gestured for me to follow him out of the bunk and down a hallway to the Captain's room. He picked the lock in under ten seconds and let me through the door. "Nightstand," he told me.

I stepped over to a nightstand that had three frameless photos laying on it. They were old and faded but still clear and in excellent condition. The first to catch my eye was a picture of eight men in WWII uniform joking around and having a good time. Among the men was the Cap with his arm around the shoulders of a soldier his age with darker hair and an arm around the Captain in return.

"James 'Bucky' Barnes," Evan said, coming up behind me. "Captain Rogers' best friend in the war. He died in action trying to capture Dr. Zola on a train in the Alps."

"How do you know?" Talia wondered, joining us.

"My Grandmum told me," he remarked simply.

I let my eyes drift to the next photo. It held only a young woman with wavy dark hair in a crisp uniform and charming smile. She was holding a pistol loosely by her side and the other hand was tucking hair behind her ear. She seemed like she was trying to hide her face from the camera but hadn't been quite quick enough.

"And that's Grandmum," Evan said.

"Wow," Talia breathed.

"Yeah," he answered.

The last photo was a little blurry around the edges but the main focus was perfectly clear. In the center of the picture was a man standing in a white lab coat and leaning nonchalantly on a table laden with shields of all shapes and sizes. He had goggles dangling around his neck and a blow torch in his hand. He appeared to be laughing, dark eyes lit up and smiling ear to ear.

"That's...?" I couldn't finish the question.

Evan nodded beside me. "Howard Stark."

I picked up the photo carefully and took a closer look. He and Dad looked alike and I could see the resemblance even in myself too. We all definitely had the same dark hair and eyes and mischievous smile. But... there was something different about my grandfather. He seemed more relaxed, completely at peace- even in the middle of WWII.

I set it down and backed up a step until I heard a footstep at the door. My head snapped around and I saw Captain Rogers watching us from the doorway. "What are you kids doing in here?" he asked us.

"Just looking at some pictures," I replied, feeling slightly lightheaded.

His entire posture softened and he crossed the room to join us. "I thought the two of you might come in here at some point," he addressed myself and Evan, nodding respectfully to Talia before doing so.

"Well, um, thanks," Evan stuttered before heading out.

Talia and I shared a confused glance before I asked, "What was my grandfather like?"

Captain Rogers sighed before answering, "He was a lot like you, less like your father, more... open, accepting, harmlessly fun loving. Most brilliant man I've ever met."

I nodded, lacking words. Talia pulled out her phone for a second when it buzzed and her jaw dropped open an inch. "Uh, no, bad idea," she mumbled to herself. A minute later, she checked her phone again and shook her head. "Fury's calling us to the wishbone docking port to have a trial run with everyone. On both teams."

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned.

"Nope," she said, sounding just as displeased.

"Maybe things will patch up a bit once the older team sees what you kids can do." The Captain followed us out the door and to the docking port where Fury told us to suit up. I jogged back to the lab and grabbed the M18 suit, slipping the compact cube into my pocket and snapping on the homing bands.

I sprinted back to the docking port, passing Banner and Rhodes in the comm lab with headsets on and computers running. Talia and August were dressed in SHIELD issued uniforms unlike the usual t shirts and jeans. JJ almost tackled me to the ground when he came barreling by with his bow and quiver over his shoulder. We waited for Barton, Romanoff, and Obiwan before Fury began giving us our instructions.

"Right now, we're south of Florida where Hydra has a minor base. They've spotted the Helicarrier and dispatched five fighter jets to take us down. Normally, this would just be a mild cause for alarm and the regular agents would handle it, but this team needs a trial run. Romanoff and Vanek, I want the two of you to fly the Quinjet. Agent Barton,"

Both JJ and his uncle waited intently for their orders. "Uh, Hawkeye," Fury corrected himself. "I want you to take a seat in back and try to drop into an enemy aircraft to wipe out the pilot hand to hand. Jeremy, I want you doing the same to a different jet and pilot." They nodded and left the huddle to take up their spots in the Quinjet.

"Tony and Sean," he continued, "Each of you blast down one jet and only step in if absolutely necessary after that. August, take a seat with the Captain; I'm not worried about the two of you. Carter, if you want to participate then have at it."

Evan shook his head and stepped back.

"Rhodes and Banner are the failsafe," Fury continued. "If it's obvious this whole thing is about to go up in smoke, then they're going to pull the plug and finish off the enemy by hacking through the systems and cutting off the oxygen supply to their pilots."

The huddle dispersed and we each took up our specific positions. Romanoff took the pilot's seat and forced Talia into the copilot. Neither looked very happy to be within seven feet of each other but they got the Quinjet off the ground in spite of that. I waited until the jet had taken off and Dad had zoomed past me to take a flying leap off the port and spread my arms and legs for flight stability.

I free fell for a few seconds before the M18 deployed and I was encased in the sturdy metal suit. Giving the thrusters some juice, I soon caught up to my dad and passed him, spotting the first jet on my radar. Like Fury had said, there were five Hydra jets making a beeline for the Helicarrier.

In seconds, the Quinjet reduced the first unsuspecting enemy jet to ash. The other four were suddenly wary, not afraid to shoot at us, but making sure to not get too close just in case.

Dad whipped by, landing on a jet and ripping the cockpit off, frying the controls and letting it spiral to the earth. In the process of watching, I lost a split second's control of the suit and dropped a heart stopping three hundred feet before I could regain control.

When I reached the fight again, I blasted a hole in the wing of one jet but it banked away and rounded on me for another try. I was too slow to avoid the first shot but I got lucky and it glanced off my right boot. I shot at the jet again but I'd forgotten the control for the new concentrated laser that Erik had installed last week. It took me three more hit and run tries before the jet nosedived into the Atlantic.

In the meantime, JJ had taken out his jet and was calmly sitting in the Quinjet again while Agent Barton fought against the pilot of his target.

By the time we'd finished, three more arguments had broken out and Hawkeye had 'accidentally' blown off my left boot thruster and I'd been forced to sit in the Quinjet. Meanwhile, my dad went around blasting the jets to pieces.

In the cockpit, a full out nonphysical cat fight reigned between Talia and Romanoff about whose tactics and style was more effective. Agent Romanoff had the upper hand in the argument because of her skill with words but from the logical sound of it, Natalia's way of operating sounded more effective.

When the last jet was set on fire by one of JJ's explosive arrows that he claimed his uncle had stolen from his quiver, we steered for the Helicarrier again. The second we landed, I stuffed the compacted suit into my pocket and left for the lab without a word to anyone.


	14. More Arguing

Talia's PoV: I watched as Tony Stark stepped off the Quinjet followed by a sour-looking Sean. Before I'd known he'd run away, I would've laughed at him, but now- I can't believe I'm saying this- I felt sorry for him.

When Fury pulled Tony aside, I watched Sean sulk up to the lab. I'd learned from years around JJ to not bother a guy when they wanted to be alone, but against my better reasoning, my feet carried me to the lab.

Now I was here, I couldn't turn back; so I slowly walked across the smooth metal floor to where Sean sat at a worktable scrawling on a blueprint. He knew I was there but refused to look my way. I turned to sit on the edge of the table not covered in protractors and rulers.

He still refused to look at me so I began swinging my feet to jiggle the table, but still no reaction. So I pinched him. Hard.

"Youch! What was that for?!" He yelped.

"You were ignoring me," I answered simply.

"Maybe I didn't know you were there."

"You did," I countered.

"So? What's it matter?" He didn't seem angry just dispirited.

"It matters because if you're depressed then Fury might not let you out at the fight. And we'll need you," I explained.

"Need me? I can't handle the suit well enough. Definitely not like my dad can. You don't need me, you need my dad."

Ugh. Idiot. I needed to slap some sense into him. So I did. I slapped him.

He reeled back for a second, stunned, before saying, "What the heck, Talia?! Uncalled for physical contact! I'm telling Fury!" At first I thought he was serious before I realized he actually had gained some sense and was only teasing.

"So? What were you saying?" I prompted now that he was thinking straight.

"About what?" He looked a little confused. Maybe I'd hit him too hard.

"About the battle?"

"Oh. That. I dunno..." He trailed off and I held a hand up in threat to slap him again. "Fine. Fine. Whatever. I'll go, just-"

"Sean," I interrupted. "Don't make me slap you again."

I waited long enough to see his sulking mood fall away before pushing off the table and heading out.

"Hey, Angel?" Sean stopped me at the door. I pivoted to face him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was fiddling with something in his hands. When he looked up, he was smirking. "Thanks," he said, tossing whatever was in his hands toward me.

I caught it and pocketed it, heading to Agent Hill's bunk. She'd told me this morning to drop by her room before 1:00pm but she didn't tell me why. When the door slid aside, she tossed me a drawstring bag with the command to get changed.

"What? What was wrong with my regular combat suit?"

She smirked, "Fury thinks you'll like this one better." I headed back to my room to change.

Inside the drawstring bag was a dark green tank top, a pair of tight fit black cargo pants, and a simple black leather jacket. A new combat suit. Why? What was wrong with my old one? This new suit didn't seem like much of an upgrade, just less worn out than the last. I shrugged and changed, lacing up my combat boots when done.

As I was pulling my hair back, August burst out of the bathroom also in a new combat suit. What was Fury trying to pull? Her hair had been freshly spiked and pixie sticks were poking out of the back pocket of her black leather pants. If she was already on a sugar high, she'd have a crash halfway through the battle. Oh, August, why?!

I rolled my eyes and dodged the police baton being twirled on her finger. She flopped onto her bed and brushed blue raspberry sugar off her navy tank top. Her boots, like mine, were still the same, but her old army jacket had been replaced by a silver jacket of more durable material. Hopefully it turned invisible with her; last time...I shook my head to clear the frightening images.

In only a few more minutes, I'd grabbed my taser, guns, knives, and other miscellaneous weapons I never left base without and examined the object Sean had given me.

It was a little golden ball about the size of a ping pong ball. As I held it, little wings sprouted from the sides and it made a faint whirring sound.

A snitch. He'd made me a snitch.

In spite of myself, I laughed. It darted around the room for a minute before finding its way back to my palm and closing its wings. I set it safely inside my dresser drawer before standing and walking out.

I slipped by the lab to thank Sean but he wasn't there. It was empty. Before I could think of anywhere else he might be, my pager went off along with every other pager of importance in the whole ship.

Battle time.

I smirked and sprinted toward the docking bay. On my way, I caught sight of Captain Rogers and Dr. Banner rushing around. The Captain was already in his suit, dark blue with the white winged-star design across his chest. Banner on the other hand was taking a seat in the comm lab with an empty chair beside him, most likely for Erik.

I joined the Avengers and Young Avengers at the bay and Fury began issuing instructions.

"Romanoff, I need you to fly the jet. Everyone else, get in back, even you, Stark. Both of you," he added when Sean jogged up beside us. I glanced over and mouthed 'thank you'. He smiled and nodded.

"The plan is to land in the city out of the way. The Shadow King is starting his forces in the northern outskirts of the city and working his way toward the center from the east in a sort of semi circle. Don't let him get too far. Work together- I don't want to hear of any accidents because you numbskulls couldn't get along."

On that happy note, we headed down to the Quinjet. Agent Romanoff climbed into the pilot's seat and buckled in with Clint beside her. He would copilot until it was time to land, at which point he would join us in the back. We packed ourselves in until everyone was accounted for and took off.

JJ's PoV: Space inside the jet was limited but there was breathing room to spare if nothing major went wrong.

Which, knowing our luck, would be a miracle.

I stood on the left side of the jet toward the cockpit and grabbed hold of a strap hanging from the ceiling until we were in the air.

A discussion broke out in the back of the jet between Talia and August. Somehow the Captain got involved and the discussion became more heated. From the sounds of it, Talia was thinking hard about something and the Captain wasn't getting it.

Unexpectedly, Talia exploded. "Don't you see it?! He's making us into his personal servants! We do the dirty work while Fury sits by. We're a show to make him look good! We're his own personal performing monkeys!"

Cap was quick to retaliate. "You're his monkeys?! You have no idea what it's like to be a performing slave! I was a guinea pig." His voice bordered on shouting but he kept his temper reigned in. "I went around in tights for a year with chorus girls before I had to sneak into a war! Don't you whine to me about performing monkeys."

I knew everything was about to plummet downhill when Tony Stark got involved.

"Oh here we go! Captain giving us his so-important-sob-story again."

"If we weren't on the same team, Stark, I swear I'd-" Rogers began.

"You'd what? Oh that's right- nothing! You'd do nothing. Why? Because you're not a real hero, Rogers. You said it yourself, you're a flashy monkey in tights that likes to be in charge. Step out of the way and let the real heroes get the job done."

Out of nowhere, Evan stepped forward and shoved Stark back by the shoulders. "If he's not a real hero, then what does that make you? He's just as much a hero as any of us because people depend on him, do what's right because of him."

Tony retaliated: "He's a hero to one country, kid. No one cares if he does what's right if he's not worth looking up to."

"He's more worth it than you are!" Carter responded.

Tony shoved Carter backward a step. "Say it again! I dare you!"

Captain Rogers stepped in and pushed Tony away from Evan. "Leave the kid alone!"

Carter rounded viciously on the Captain: "I'm not a kid!"

Sean stepped in and said, "Evan, cut it out!"

"You know, you should really listen to him sometime," Tony told Evan smugly.

Now Sean turned on his dad. "Oh like you ever listen to me!"

Tony: "Sean, we can discuss it later."

"Or we can discuss it now. I don't care if you're Ironman! You're never around and when you are, all you do is work on the stupid suits! And you don't care either!"

Throughout the argument, I could feel my own pent up anger boiling to the surface. But when Sean said that, it was the last straw. The injustice I'd been holding in for eighteen years exploded.

"You think your dad doesn't care?! You think your dad's never around?! My dad hates me! I haven't seen him since I was six because he's constantly on the run. He pretends I don't exist! That I was just a mistake! You have no idea what it's like to have a dad that doesn't care! You have no idea what it's like to not have your parents around! Two of the people who could've stayed around joined a circus and dumped me with 'Dear Old Uncle Clint'! Even he didn't care after he met her!" I stabbed an accusing finger toward the cockpit.

By now, Clint had left the cockpit and was standing across from me. "Whoa whoa whoa. How is this all her fault?"

"It's not. After Dad walked out, it was yours."

"Mine?"

I couldn't stop the torrent of age-old wounds pouring out of me. They'd been hidden for too long and now that they had an excuse, there was no stopping them. It was an avalanche of bitterness. "You could've helped. Left me with a family or something. But no! You dumped me with SHIELD because you didn't want to bother with me either!"

"That's not true!"

"Then what is?! That the only person who could've taken me was an infamous crook?!" I snapped back.

He looked confused but I wasn't going to slow down. I hooked a finger under the chain that hung around my neck and pulled a set of dogtags from underneath my shirt. Three metal IDs dangled at the bottom of the chain so familiar to me I didn't have to see them to quote their contents. One for my dad and the other two for his mentors. "Jacques Duquesne? Ring a bell?"

My uncle's face paled. "No. He didn't- He wasn't-"

"Yeah. He was. Granda taught me more than you or Dad or Fury ever did. At least he cared."

"But I thought he was-" Clint stammered.

"Dead? Yeah. He died from an inoperable brain tumor when I was ten, a couple months before SHIELD took me. And you still didn't care."

"I never even knew! Why would I care anyway?" Clint snarled. "Your dad and Duquesne tried to kill me!"

"He was still your brother!"

"Not after he deserted me! Why should I care about him when he left me to be a circus rat?! Why should I care about someone who never cared about me?"

"So why should I care when no one ever cared in return either?!"

Talia's light touch on my arm brought me crashing back to earth. "Jeremy, that's not true. SHIELD cared when they took you in. I-"

Romanoff's voice snapped at us from the cockpit. "Would everyone just SHUT UP! Flying this thing is hard enough right now without all of you going at each other's throats!"

I suddenly realized that the jet was shaking violently but it didn't feel like turbulence. It felt like an attack. I grabbed the dangling strap above my head again to balance myself as the jet lurched.

Talia faced the cockpit with the angriest look I'd ever seen on her face before. Usually she was good at hiding her emotions but this was probably pushing it. I'd known Natalia for eight years and never before had I seen her so out of control.

"Oh and of course you've never shouted at anyone before because you're the Black Widow and that's not your style," she spat sarcastically.

"At least my style works," Agent Romanoff retorted, voice dripping with smugness.

From the back of the jet, Tony blurted, "Catfight!"

Rogers turned and slapped Stark in the arm. "Would you shut up! Everything's a joke to you!"

Tony glared at the Captain. "Just because you are, Rogers doesn't mean-"

Evan jumped to the defensive again: "Leave him alone!"

At the same time, the Cap and Tony both answered; Captain Rogers firmly told him, "Kid, stay out of this," while Tony violently shoved Evan backward and said, "Who's gonna make me?"

"Dad!" Sean interjected. He didn't sound like he wanted his dad's attention, more like a warning about something completely unrelated to the argument.

Tony's attention was pulled away and he seemed to understand a split second too late. Evan opened his mouth and began to say, "No! And I'm not a-"

An explosion rocked the jet and sent us careening toward the ground.


	15. If There Be a War

JJ's PoV: I was thrown sideways into the hatch door, knocking over August who in turn knocked over Tony Stark. We tumbled across the floor as the jet spiraled out of control. I could hear Agent Romanoff fighting to regain control, but it didn't sound like anything was working.

The Quinjet tipped steeply sideways, throwing me upright against the side. I grabbed for my bow and quiver, getting them strapped over my shoulder seconds before impact. I was tossed like a ragdoll into the seats, driving the air from my lungs.

The Quinjet had crashed into a tall office building three quarters of the way up. Dust, rubble, and the sound of coughing filled the air. I gained my feet under me and slowly stood, looking around. 

Romanoff and Captain Rogers were helping the others out, digging weapons out of the wreck. I climbed over a bag of parachute packs and stumbled onto the cement floor.

Luckily, the building was abandoned. Dust lay over every surface and rafters sagged dangerously. Tony and Sean donned their suits and flew off to begin the fight around the perimeter.

A large groan ripped through the silence of the room and a portion of the ceiling collapsed, showering plaster on our heads. I ducked under the sheared jet wing for protection until the dust had settled again. Just as Captain Rogers began giving orders, the roof groaned again and came down with a crash just above Talia's head.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Evan dash across the expanse and tackle her away from the collapse. In the dust that billowed up, nothing was visible at first. When it began to clear, the two dark shapes of Talia and Evan were visible but only vaguely. And only one was moving.

I sprinted over to the pile of rubble, waving the dust away from my face, but when I reached the spot, I was surprised to see Talia standing and coughing in the dust cloud. She leaned heavily on my shoulder, wheezing and hacking.

On the ground, Carter was struggling to stand. His foot was twisted at an odd angle that definitely wasn't natural. He held it off the ground to take the pressure away. When he attempted to walk on it, he yelped in pain and clutched a windowsill for support.

Agent Barton had already left to help Tony and Sean with the army. Romanoff and Rogers were hurriedly discussing something on the other side of the room with Oberon standing a few feet off and awaiting orders.

"Uh, guys. Man down," I told them.

Their heads whipped around and they ran over with Obiwan.

"Broken," Romanoff announced, taking one look at Carter's ankle. She helped him to lean on Oberon before saying, "Take him back to the Helicarrier. He's no use here and will only be killed. Be quick."

The Asgardian nodded before getting a tighter grip on Evan and taking off. The second he was gone, the Cap pointed to Talia. "You and I are going to try and keep people off the streets and out of the way. Subways, basements, anything- just keep them hidden. Agent Romanoff, I need you to thin ranks on the ground by whatever means necessary to the east."

"And me?" I asked.

"Find a rooftop, somewhere high. Pick them off and kill as many as you can. Call out anything you see that might be trouble. If anything big happens, we need to know. And keep August alive; she'll be on your side of the ring. Just...don't let her do anything stupid," he finished.

I nodded and sprinted out of the building. Once back in the clear air and sunlight, I called to Sean through my earpiece. "Hey man, I need a lift."

The M18 swooped down and took off with my feet dangling in open air.

"Where to?" He asked.

"Tallest building on the opposite side as my uncle," I explained.

"Got it," Sean answered, setting me down at the perfect spot.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he replied, taking off again. I immediately dropped to one knee and began to shoot the shadow alien things. The first arrow I loosed should have been a kill- straight to the heart. The creature just ripped the arrow out of its smoky chest and kept fighting, tearing buildings apart and causing general panic.

I aimed again, this time for its head. As it turned, I got lucky and my arrow embedded itself in the glowing purple eye socket. The shadow creature let out a screech and crumbled to ash.

"Everyone," I said into my earpiece. "You have to hit them in the eye. It's their only weak spot."

"Are you sure?" The Captain's voice replied.

"Very."

"I think I prefer blowing them to bits," Tony said, zipping by and incinerating another creature.

"That works too," I agreed.

Each time a troop of the shadow creatures passed anywhere near me, I pulled out an explosive arrow and left no trace of the ghosts. They were all alike in every way, from the two glowing purple eye sockets that seemed to radiate evil intent, to the smoky, undulating bodies. They had no definite shape or size and no real matter. If you didn't hit them in the eye, there was the chance that the arrow would go right through the creature.

If they wished, the ghosts could pass through solid walls or drop three hundred feet without a second thought. They were like ants- indestructible except for their eye sockets, and so innumerable they could have easily taken up several blocks crammed on top of each other seven feet deep. In fact, they seemed to have no problem with dog piling each other and crawling away or phasing into the ground and coming out again twenty feet off.

From my vantage point, I could see most of what went on during the battle. August was wiping out shadow creatures left and right at the tip of the eastern curve on the inside. They seemed to think they could overwhelm her but she was just tearing them down. I couldn't tell how she was doing it either; maybe with her police baton or maybe she was giving them all pixie sticks if they agreed to retreat. Either way, she was doing great keeping them at bay.

Sean and his dad blasted through the ranks along the edges, lighting the ghosts on fire until they crumbled to ash. Obiwan had returned and found a good spot to electrocute them from, but he was tiring quickly. It must have taken way too much energy to summon a storm like the one that brewed ominously over his head.

Romanoff was picking off the aliens from the inside, cutting through their ranks until they were forced to spread out. Near her, Captain Rogers and Talia were dragging unsuspecting citizens out of the way and into buildings.

At length, Talia got separated from the Captain and pushed further away until she was backed against the base of the building I stood on. The shadow creatures surrounded her and began to pounce until she could no longer hold them off. They buried her under a mass of hazy grey fog.

Before I could call for help, Sean dove into the fray and used a laser to blast the creatures. When he pulled Talia free, he retracted his mask covering so they could speak, and I could vaguely make out what they said from lip reading.

Talia: "Thanks."

Sean: "Don't mention it. Just saving a damsel in distress."

Talia: "A damsel in distress am I? And how do you figure that one?"

Sean: "Well, I kind of am a knight in shining armor, so..."

Talia: "I wouldn't exactly say 'knight'."

Sean: "You wouldn't, huh? What would you say then?"

Talia: "Cocky genius with an ego too big for his suit."

Sean: "Sounds pretty accurate to me."

I think she laughed but I wasn't sure.

Before either of them could say more, Tony flew past and spoke over the earpiece, "Yo, lovebirds, back in action."

They split apart and Sean took off again, zapping another shadow thing on his way by. I noticed that Romanoff was sprinting in and out of the thickening soup of aliens, clearing a path each time before dashing back in again. She wasn't alone either; each time she disappeared inside the enemy ranks, the Captain kept the tip from advancing by cutting off the heads of the nearest with his shield. Apparently their heads were solid enough to be removed with a shield so dull it couldn't sharpen a pencil.

As I watched, I began to think something was wrong. The shadow creatures were barely putting up a fight. They weren't even a challenge for us. Maybe we overestimated them and this would be easier than we thought.

But of course, the second I thought that, the Universe had to go and laugh in my face like it usually did.

Not a minute after I was thinking we could be done for dinner, the creatures stopped advancing and froze. Every disturbing purple eye was turned to the north where a single dark figure was advancing slowly. He didn't seem exceptionally large, maybe six foot three, and not exceptionally strong.

As the figure approached, I got a better look. His skin reminded me of those black hole pictures documentaries always described by saying that even light got sucked in and extinguished; black eyes caught the sunlight and glinted coldly. When he reached the border of the battle grounds, he stopped and held up his arms.

The shadow aliens let out an eardrum bursting screech that I thought might kill me. I dropped to one knee and covered my ears with my hands. When they'd finished their battle cry, I uncovered my ears and regained my feet. When they began their march forward again, the shadow creatures' plans had changed; now, they moved with the purpose of attacking the Avengers.

I began shooting down the ghost aliens as fast as I dared without hitting someone. My aim became increasingly worse as the team was divided and swamped by the advancing tide until I had one arrow left and when I let it go, it missed its target entirely. This was not going to end well.

I would be needed on the ground now that I couldn't help from above, so I searched frantically for a way down. Two stories below me was one of those flagpoles that sticks horizontally out of a building. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to steel myself before jumping. As I fell, I reminded myself not to close my eyes, and grabbed the pole. It bent dangerously under my weight before straightening out again.

I inched toward the stone building until I could grab a window ledge with my fingertips. It was slow going, dangling from the window ledges with no foot holds and just my fingertips on the smooth stone. American Ninja style, I controlled myself as I swung from ledge to ledge until I was close enough to the ground to drop.

I hit the asphalt and rolled, breaking my fall. My hands were cramping up and my shoulders and arms felt like jello but I couldn't stop. In one smooth motion, I pulled my knives and charged the nearest alien. Adrenaline woke me up and gave me the energy to fight.

My breathing quickened and reflexes slowed. I was battered and bruised and I think my arm was bleeding but I wasn't sure. I staggered away from the onslaught of shadow creatures until I was backed against a street barricaded by destroyed cars. I back flipped onto the first overturned car and leapt from vehicle to vehicle to gain some space between myself and the creatures.

They crawled over everything, setting things on fire by touch and sucking the light from the nearby air. As a group split off from the main stream, they swarmed over themselves to make their way onto the car I had retreated onto.

I violently kicked the first in the face and sent it back to the mob. Two more took its place and received the business end of my knives. I wouldn't be able to stay here for long, I realized. Shaking with fatigue, I dove off the car roof and rolled, popping up again and sprinting away. No one else was in sight. I was on my own.


	16. To All There Is An End

Sean's PoV: I blasted the aliens left and right but chances that we won were plummeting rapidly. These freakish beings were just too numerous. When one died, more seeped out of the ground to replace it. I couldn't keep them off the buildings so I did my best to keep them off my teammates.

I kept a close eye on Talia but she didn't need saving again; that much was obvious from the way she cut through the shadows. Romanoff was doing everything she could to keep them off her back as well as Captain Rogers' back. They fought in the same street and kept a steady stream of communication going between them. Hawkeye called out stragglers or strays and any weakening areas in their ranks to myself and Dad so we could go turn them to dust. Or at least they did until the Shadow King showed up.

My energy store was running low and the suit was becoming heavier with each dive. The lasers were weakening and it took more to kill the shadows as the sun drooped toward the horizon. They seemed to leach the light and color from the air around them as they closed in.

I slapped one before jetting to the top of a building and resting for a second. Oberon was managing alright on his own but he was too tired to summon more lightning and these things just kept coming. I shook my head and took off again, flying low to knock into as many ghosts as I could.

My Dad and Hawkeye had left to take on the Shadow King himself when he arrived so I was left with keeping the whole perimeter. JJ hadn't said a word after warning us about the weak spot so I headed his way to check out the scene.

He was dodging the creatures as best he could but there were just too many. I took out as many as I could before the blasters sputtered and died. I could maintain flight but an offensive would be impossible until I recharged.

"Sorry, man," I told him.

"It's alright. I got it. Go help Romanoff, she's losing control."

I nodded and took off again, searching the streets for the red headed agent. She was backed against a library with the mass of aliens in front of her. The horde was diminishing from both sides as an invisible August thinned ranks across from her.

"You guys all set?" I asked.

"All good here," Romanoff answered, hacking off the head of another creature.

I left them and decided to peek at how the stand off against the Shadow King was going.

On my way to where I'd last seen them, a purple light seared the side of my vision and left little dots floating by my eyes. My dad was sent careening backwards in his suit, smoking a little. He regained control and dove back into the battle. On the ground, Hawkeye was doing his best to fend off the King but he was going to be taken over in a minute that was ticking out as I thought.

I swooped down and, from behind, grabbed the King and dropped him from 100 feet- a drop that should have killed him on impact. I believed for a second that he was dead, but he shifted and rose to his feet again. I couldn't stop the swear from slipping out and was immediately scolded by Talia and the Captain.

"You wanna try killing someone who just won't die?" I snapped back.

"Sean, get back!" My dad told me, flying by. "We don't know what he's capable of yet!"

I fought down the rebellious part of me that wanted to shout back and blast the King to ash. Instead, I retreated several hundred feet and scanned the perimeter again. "Hey, JARVIS? This guy got any weaknesses you can see?"

"None I am aware of, sir."

"Research him. Get anything you can. We need to pick this guy apart from the inside out."

"Right on it."

I cleared the perimeter again and checked on JJ, Romanoff and August, Talia, and the Captain. They were holding their own but they wouldn't be able to last much longer unless we killed this guy fast.

"Dad, just let me help, I have an idea," I told him.

He whipped by me and circled around for another dive. "I can't let you, Sean."

"And why not? You're not making very much progress."

"Just let us handle this."

"I can help!" I protested.

"No!"

Ignoring the warning, I shot by the Shadow King and knocked his feet out from under him. He pushed himself up again and rolled onto his back, holding one hand out in my direction. A purple shield of pure energy formed in front of me but I was too quick and changed directions, avoiding it by a hair.

"Sean," my dad's voice warned.

"I got this," I replied, gritting my teeth and diving in again. This time, I used the last power in my lasers to injure him as best I could. He must have had a force field around him because all my lasers did was break the shell. He wasn't even singed.

"Hawkeye, can you distract him?"

"Won't be easy."

"Just try."

After a short tussle, Agent Barton judo kicked the King backwards ten feet and sent him skidding across the pavement. I came in and dropped a massive block of cement on him that would crush any normal man on impact. He simply pushed it off and stood, the only difference was that he was now ticked off at me.

"Oh crap," I muttered, dodging the blast of purple light shot at me. I thought I had it cleared when I was thrown sideways, slamming my head into the mask. The metallic taste of blood entered my mouth and I felt it trickle down my jaw from the cut across my cheek. Two of the world's finest geniuses and we hadn't thought to add padding to the inside of the helmet. I'd have to fix that.

I pivoted to face the King as he overturned cars and set buildings ablaze. More touch-and-go, risky hits were laid until Hawkeye and I were reluctant to take this guy straight on. He was capable of a lot more than we thought he was.

Talia's PoV: Instinct and muscle memory took hold of my actions as I slashed at the shadow creatures. I fought until I no longer had feeling in my arms but adrenaline kept me moving.

I found myself wondering how everyone else was faring. We'd all been separated a while ago but Oberon had flown down to my street and was bashing the ghosts in the head with his hammer thing.

The Captain could be seen dashing between side streets and keeping the humans out of the way while Romanoff took care of the baddies around him. I assumed August was on an invisible offensive because random monsters would fall for no reason wherever her invisible steps took her.

I caught a glimpse of JJ scavenging some of the ash piles for arrows but he only had three in his quiver and one in his hand that he was using to fend off the aliens. He looked exhausted and was bleeding in several places including a gash in his shoulder. He bent to grab another arrow from the ground and fell to one knee, fighting to stand again. As he pushed up, a ghost phased out of the ground and attempted to strangle him from behind. I slipped a knife from my boot and took aim.

One shot. I had one shot; and I had to get it exactly right. I stepped into the throw and prayed desperately that it would hit its target as it flew from my fingers.

The knife struck the monster in the purple socket and it disintegrated. JJ whipped around. "Thanks," he gasped.

"Don't mention it," I said, tipping my head slightly.

He took off again with somewhat renewed energy. I retrieved my knife and took out a handful of more monsters before a flash of purple light shot over my head. It came from a few blocks away where the Shadow King was advancing into the city. Hawkeye and Ironman were slowing him down but there was no way they could ever win alone.

That was when I noticed the flying red and gold suit wasn't Tony Stark's; it was Sean's. I shook my head weakly. He was an idiot. I couldn't watch the whole battle but what I did see was discouraging, and honestly, pretty scary.

The Shadow King conjured force fields and beams of purple light, not to mention he rallied all the shadow creatures he passed. The entire battle felt hopeless, but I couldn't dwell on that. I had to focus.

When only a handful of extremely difficult ghosts were left, I was allowed a glance at the battle with the King. What I saw scared me to death.

Sean dove from behind and prepared to slam him into the ground but the King grabbed the M18 with inhuman strength and tossed him like a ragdoll in front of himself and into the air. He blasted the suit with eerie purple light, causing the M18 to sail four hundred feet into the air where a force field was waiting. He hit the force field and was immediately electrocuted.

I stared in shock as arcs of electricity coursed over the suit until it short-circuited and was held to the field simply by the strength of the conduction. The King laughed cruelly before closing his fist and letting the suit drop.

I watched in horror as Sean plummeted toward earth, demolishing the sides of buildings as he fell. I heard screaming; I think it was me.


	17. Dork Say What?

Talia's PoV: I abandoned the few advancing ghosts that remained in this street and sprinted toward the rut the suit had made in the pavement. I only made it halfway before the Captain grabbed me. He wrapped one arm around my waist and clothes-lined me so hard it drove the air from my lungs.

"Sean!" I screamed, kicking viciously against the Captain. I fought and struggled until I dug an elbow into his ribs and he released me. With my momentum, I lurched forward and caught myself on my hands, running on all fours for a second before regaining my feet and continuing my sprint.

I slid to a stop beside his motionless body, scraping my knees without feeling it. His mask had been knocked off and lay at the edge of the street, broken into four or five pieces. His face was covered with bruises and several cuts and scrapes. The worst of the wounds, a split above his eyebrow, bled down his temple and into his matted near-black hair.

I didn't know what to do. I felt completely helpless for the first time I could remember. "Oh c'mon, wake up. Just please wake up," I begged.

Romanoff fell to her knees beside me. She held her ear to his mouth and sat up again. "He's still alive, just unconscious."

I felt no relief from this statement, only doubt. He'd been electrocuted for crying out loud! He couldn't possibly be 'just unconscious'. I wanted to shake him, slap him, scream out my frustration but the more rational part of me said that none of those would do any good.

"Wake up, Sean," I muttered. "Please."

A tense minute of silence passed before Tony landed heavily on the asphalt beside us. He dropped to his knees and leaned over his son. "I let him do it...all my fault," he rambled.

My heart pounded so loudly I wouldn't have been surprised if Romanoff and Stark heard it. I began counting: one...two... I got to forty before Sean's cracked lips parted and he coughed weakly.

My pent up breath rushed out in a sigh of relief and I even laughed the tiniest bit in spite of myself. Groaning in pain, he coughed again and opened his eyes slowly.

"Who's the damsel in distress now?" I teased.

He mumbled something unintelligible that I couldn't make out.

"What?" I asked.

A weak smile spread across his face and he even laughed before it turned to coughing again. "Got you," he croaked.

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"I said," he paused to cough, "Dork say what."

I couldn't be angry at him right now; any other time I probably would have slapped him, but right now I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. "Good to know you're alright," I told him.

"Is it over?" he rasped.

I looked around. Piles of ash lay everywhere and buildings were burning. Cars smoked and sirens wailed off in the distance. No sign of any remaining shadow creatures or the King. Hawkeye had joined the powwow and had one arm around Romanoff's shoulders. "Is it?" I asked him.

He nodded before giving Natasha a kiss on the cheek. She blushed and I smiled.

It was over.

The others began to go around and set out fires or collect weapons. I stayed beside Sean and let my muscles relax a little.

Then something occurred to me. "How were you not electrocuted?" I asked him. "That was a powerful hit. I mean..."

He attempted nodding. "Rubber lining," was all he replied. It made sense. If the suit had a rubber lining it meant that any wiring issues he had wouldn't harm him and the electricity from outside wouldn't reach him. Brilliant.

I managed to help him out of the suit and he hit a button to collapse the battered metal shell into its compact form. Sean stuck it in his pocket and stood, losing his balance for a second.

The bleeding from most of his scrapes and cuts had stopped but the split above his eye still ran in slow rivulets down his face. I wasn't that worried: head wounds bled the most no matter how insignificant they were.

As a team, the old and new Avengers reboarded the Helicarrier and were ordered to drop by Dr. Banner's office. Erik helped with the doctoring and there was plenty of it to keep the two of them busy. Miraculously, August was the only one of us to escape without a single nick or bruise.

Evan limped into the room on a set of crutches and began asking how it all went. No one answered. "Maybe tomorrow?" he guessed. We nodded and I understood; we all felt the same; no one wanted to recount anything until they had to.

He nodded and sat on a table. Agent Barton was the first to be treated and dismissed but he waited for Agent Romanoff. She'd been stabbed in the shoulder but it wasn't that deep according to Banner. When she was finished, they left and Banner began treating Sean. Erik finished treating Captain Rogers and joined me across the room.

"Alright?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not really."

"Sean's alive so that's a bonus," he said quietly.

At first I didn't get what he meant before it clicked. I slapped him in the arm and he said nothing more while he fixed me up. He taped a piece of gauze to my arm where a chunk of flaming car shard had burned my sleeve off and left a nasty mark.

When he finished, he offered me some ibuprofen and a half hearted smile before going on to JJ. He didn't look good- in fact, he looked even more beaten up than when I'd seen him scavenging arrows. His shoulder had only recently stopped bleeding and his shirt was soaked with blood.

I hopped onto the table beside him and he grinned at me. Leaning over, he bumped me with his good shoulder. I bumped him back and slid off the table to let Erik work. Next, I moved to lean on the table beside Sean. He had his eyes closed in a grimace as Doc stitched the wound above his eye closed.

When he opened his eyes, I gently slapped his knee to get his attention. He turned to look at me and slid gingerly off the table to lean against it instead.

Without all the blood, he didn't look too bad. He was bruised and battered but he was still able to flash that cocky smile so he must be fine.

"Doc says I might have a concussion but other than that," he stopped abruptly. "Wait. Did Hawkeye kill the King?"

I didn't know. Did he? I shook my head and answered, "I don't know. I'll have to ask."

I turned to leave but he caught my arm and pulled me back. Before I could say anything, he planted a tiny kiss on my cheek and let me go. I stepped away and resisted the urge to slap him before turning on heel and leaving at a brisk pace.

Sean's PoV: And she'd just stormed out like that. "Wow, feeling the love, Angel," I muttered sarcastically.

My head throbbed like it would burst but I'd already taken meds so I just had to wait. I pushed off the table and started slowly toward my bunk before crashing onto the mattress. When JJ came in, I rolled over and he hit the lights.

I didn't know how long I slept for but when I woke up I felt a million times better. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, letting the memories of the battle come back to me.

It was a miracle we were all still in one piece after everything that had happened. Evan and JJ were the worst off from what I saw but they would heal just fine. Emotionally, I felt drawn thin; being electrocuted and then falling four hundred feet changes a person. I pushed myself into a sitting position and felt every muscle scream in complaint.

I shook my head to clear it and dropped to the floor, grabbing clothes and showering before anyone else woke up.

When I rummaged in JJ's secret snack stash for something to eat, the others began waking up. Evan groaned from his spot on the floor in a sleeping bag. When he opened his eyes, he grimaced and pulled a pillow over his face, saying something muffled by the pillow.

JJ woke up next then Erik and they both got up to shower. Obiwan was out cold on his bunk with his mouth open, drooling onto his pillow. We let him sleep; he'd earned it. The four of us who were awake sat together in silence for the longest time before Erik sighed and said, "How are the girls?"

"August is fine from what I saw, but Talia is ticked off," I replied.

"What? Why?" Jeremy asked.

"Don't ask me! I'll never understand girls."

We agreed collectively and the tension in the air relaxed. After a minute of Oberon's snoring, Evan announced, "Who's up for a movie marathon?"

A ripple of laughter rolled across the group and we stood to prepare. I grabbed some snacks and Jeremy got the popcorn from the kitchen. Evan chose the movies: Indiana Jones 1-4 and got them going so that the movie was just starting when the girls and Obiwan joined us.

Evan had chosen a chair and pulled up the footrest to prop his ankle on. Jeremy claimed one side of the couch and I claimed the other end with a space between us. Erik and August shared a sofa and Oberon claimed a comfy chair. Talia slipped into the spot between myself and JJ and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Are you still mad at me?" I asked her.

She smirked and shook her head. "Angels can't stay mad."

I smiled and we sat back to watch the movies.

By the time the credits were rolling to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we were all falling asleep. Oberon was doing his best to stay awake but his head was visibly nodding and Erik's head was tipped back with his mouth wide open. JJ was completely gone and Evan was snoring away. Talia's head rested on my shoulder and her breathing had steadied. I smiled and let my eyes drift shut.

THE END

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When I edited and finished writing this for Wattpad, I planned out two sequels, but never got far into actually writing them because highschool got busy, and then life happened, and you know how it goes. Leave some comments on what you liked, maybe what made you feel a bit nostalgic for the first Avengers movie, or really just comment anything. I'd love to hear from my readers. Please keep in mind that this was written several years ago and be kind with your words. And let me know if you want to see those sequels!


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